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Title: John Sobieski: Lothian prize essay for 1881

Author: Edward H. R. Tatham

Release date: July 21, 2022 [eBook #68578]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: A. Thomas Shrimpton & Son

Credits: Turgut Dincer and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)


*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN SOBIESKI: LOTHIAN PRIZE ESSAY FOR 1881 ***





  TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

  Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes
  have been moved to the end of the essay.

  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

  Sidenotes, also in italics in the original, are surrounded
  by ♦diamonds♦.

  Text in small caps has been converted to ALL CAPS.

  Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have
  been standardized. Obvious typographical errors have been
  corrected. Proper names, French language, and "reproch" in
  the diary entry, have been retained as published in the
  original publication.




  JOHN SOBIESKI.

  LOTHIAN PRIZE ESSAY

  FOR

  1881.

  BY

  EDWARD H. R. TATHAM, B.A.

  BRASENOSE COLLEGE.

      “Non perchè re sei tu, si grande sei,
      Ma per te cresce e in maggior pregio sale
          La maesta regale.”

              VINCENZIO DA FILICAIA, _Canzone_.

  OXFORD:
  A. THOMAS SHRIMPTON & SON, BROAD STREET.
  LONDON: SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO.
  1881.




JOHN SOBIESKI.


♦Strangeness of Polish history.♦ The Kingdom or Republic of
Poland has always seemed a strange phenomenon in European
history, partly from the aboriginal character of its population,
and partly from its exceptional constitution. The ancient
Sarmatians, who occupied the same territory, had no share in
the old Roman civilisation, but rather, by their constant
irruptions upon the empire, were mainly instrumental in its
downfall. Christianity was introduced in the tenth century; but,
until recent times, no other civilising force has ever effected
a permanent conquest of the country. ♦Aboriginal character of
the Poles,♦ During the eight following centuries the Poles,
surrounded by enemies--on the north and east by more barbarous
tribes, on the south and west by a superior civilisation--were
exclusively confined to the defensive and so missed those
humanising influences to which a conquering nation has so often
had to submit. As late as the eighteenth century they might truly
be called the lineal descendants in race, in character, and
almost in habits, of the hunters and shepherds of the ancient
North. ♦Seen in their social system.♦ Throughout their history
there were two great classes in the State; the so-called noble
class--the heirs of the savage in their desire for equality, and
of the nomad in their love of freedom--and the peasant class--the
descendants of captives taken in war--whose lives and properties
were at the absolute disposal of their masters. Only in the
western portion of the kingdom was there a burgher class, and
this was on the same[1] political footing with the serfs. The
union of two great evils arising from such a system--licence
and servitude--made the Polish constitution as disastrous as it
was unique. Poland thus differed so widely, both socially and
politically, from every other European state, that it would be
impossible to examine any important period of her history without
explaining alike her position in Europe and some of her internal
peculiarities.

♦European position of Poland,♦ Although considerably[2] larger
than France, Poland took scarcely any part in the general
history of Europe before the end of the sixteenth century. Once
only, just before the taking of Constantinople, we find her
with Hungary striving to check the advance of the Turks, when
she lost in battle her king Wladislas VI. (1444). ♦At first
inconsiderable,♦ As she was the north-eastern outpost of the
Church, the Popes took care that she should always be remarkable
for her submission to the Holy See. But it was beyond their
power to check the turbulence of the nobles or to instil any
love for a higher civilisation. During the sixteenth century,
chiefly through the enterprise of foreigners, commerce made rapid
advances in the country. English and Italian merchants, favoured
by treaties between the king and queen Elizabeth, settled in
the prosperous town of Dantzic, and spread a moderate knowledge
of Poland in western countries. That this knowledge was only
moderate may be judged from a valuable geographical work[3]
published in London early in the seventeenth century, in which we
are told that the Lithuanians still worshipped idols, and that in
another province they had not learned the use of the plough. The
reformed doctrines were widely disseminated before the year 1600;
but their progress was checked by the activity of the Jesuits.
♦Owing to exclusiveness,♦ The Papal Nuncio of that time[4]
complains of the exclusiveness of the Poles and their distrust
of foreign nations. They used commonly to boast that alliances
were of no service to them, for, if the country were conquered,
they could, like their ancestors, recover in winter what they had
lost in summer. Yet very early in their history they had lost
the rich province of Prussia[5] by neglect and mis-government.
When, in 1573, they allied themselves with France by electing
as their king Henry of Valois, they bound him by such a crowd
of onerous restrictions that he fled the country in disgust at
their wild and barbarous freedom. ♦Anarchy,♦ During the next
three quarters of a century (1573-1648), under three princes of
conspicuous ability, Poland began to rank among the second-rate
powers of Europe; but her internal condition was all the while
frightful. Unceasing struggles between the greater and lesser
nobility, and the cruel oppression of the peasants by both alike,
distracted the kingdom. ♦And foreign wars,♦ Then followed thirty
years of desolating war, in which the country was several times
on the brink of final subjugation by a foreign invader. The Poles
themselves attributed their survival to God alone[6], who had
preserved them to form a barrier against the Turks.

♦Then suddenly most prominent,♦ At the close of this period,
instead of finding Poland exhausted almost to death, we see
her occupying the proud position of the saviour of Europe. At
a most critical moment, when the last great wave of barbarian
invasion was rolling over Europe, and seemed likely to overwhelm
the ancient empire of the Hapsburgs, this little republic stood
firmly in the gap, and became the bulwark of Christendom against
the infidel. Nay more, by her own sacrifices no less than by her
opportune intervention, she was the main instrument in setting
the final limit to the Ottoman advance. ♦Owing to John Sobieski.♦
This extraordinary result is to be ascribed almost solely to
the personal character and exploits of her patriot king, John
Sobieski. Rising to the throne by his personal merits alone in
spite of the most malignant envy, he was the first native king
unconnected with the old royal line. ♦His difficulties mainly
caused by the constitution.♦ It may be said that his life from
his early manhood is at no time the history of a private man; it
rather comprises the whole contemporary annals of his country.
Yet it forms the most destructive comment on her institutions,
both social and political, and on the character of the national
nobility. While we must admire a conservative constitution which
admits of the supremacy of the best man, we cannot but deplore
those faults in its working which had the effect of nullifying
his authority. In Poland there was neither a republic nor a
monarchy, but the sovereignty of one man under the control of an
unrestrained class, which mistook licence for freedom. In order
to understand the position of Sobieski and the difficulties
with which he had to contend, a short account of the Polish
constitution is indispensable.

♦Monarchy generally becomes elective.♦ The authority of the king
was originally absolute, but in a nation of fierce warriors he
was easily controlled by armed assemblies of his subjects. His
consulting them, though at first only a mark of favour, was soon
looked upon as a right; and in course of time they even claimed
the disposal of his dignity. Two great dynasties successively
reigned in Poland. During the first, founded by Piast, a native
Pole (850-1386), the dignity was hereditary; during the second,
that of Jagellon (1386-1573), though in practice hereditary,
it was in theory elective. ♦Election of the king.♦ After the
latter period the whole nobility met in arms to elect a king,
and, though a relation of the old line was preferred, he was
considered to have no claim. This assembling of the Pospolite,
as it was called, was in an emergency the prerogative of the
king, and during an interregnum of the Primate, the Archbishop of
Guesna, who acted as interrex. The election was not legal unless
it was unanimous; and when this was accomplished, seldom without
violence, the republic imposed upon the new monarch a contract
styled “pacta conventa,” the conditions of which he swore
faithfully to observe. ♦His privileges.♦ His privileges were
few. He always presided in the national assembly, and he might
if he chose command[7] the army. But his most important function
was the appointment of officers of state. These are said to have
amounted in all branches to the astounding number of 20,000; ♦The
Senate.♦ but only the most important, about 140, composed the
Senate, which was the middle estate of the realm and the real
executive.

♦How composed.♦ Besides the bishops there were three great orders
in the administration, of which only the first two had seats
in the Senate. These were the palatines, the castellans, and
starosts. Each palatine, like a Norman baron, was the military
commander and supreme judge in his province or palatinate; he
was also its recognised political head. The castellans were
his deputies, who discharged the same functions in a more
confined area. The starosts were inferior magistrates, with
military and judicial duties, whose chief privilege was the
high value of their benefices. ♦The officers of state.♦ There
were twelve great dignitaries who were entrusted with the
higher executive,--six for the kingdom of Poland, viz., the
Grand Marshal, the Grand General,[8] the Second General, the
Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor, and the Grand Treasurer, and six
parallel officers for the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The latter,
when incorporated with Poland in 1386, had insisted on a distinct
administration; but the arrangement proved most unfortunate,
for the Polish magnate had no authority over his Lithuanian
compeer. In the army, as in the administration, they might act
quite independently of each other, and the very equality made a
collision inevitable. Over the Senate as a whole the king had no
real power, but the Diet exercised a rigid supervision.

This body--the third estate of the realm--had originally been
composed of the whole adult nobility. So jealous were the Poles
of their privileges that it was not till 1466--two hundred
years after the foundation of the House of Commons--that they
consented to form a representative system. ♦The Diet.♦ A Diet of
400 deputies met every two years, and was liable to be summoned
on extraordinary occasions. The members of this assembly were
absolutely without discretionary powers. They were elected in
the dietines or provincial assemblies, and received minute
instructions as to their course of action. After the dissolution
of the Diet they had to appear again before their constituents
and give an account of their stewardship. Those who had offended
found their lives in peril. ♦Its dependence upon the nobility.♦
Thus the Diet took its stamp from the prevailing temper of
the nobility, and, as this was almost always quarrelsome, the
place of meeting often resounded with the clang of sabres.
♦Results of this dependence.♦ During the period which we shall
have to consider, this dependence will explain the constant
neglect of proper means for the national defence. The cavalry
of the nobles--the flower of the troops--displayed all the
disadvantages, and none of the merits, of a standing army. They
were always under arms, and ready to use them in any feud; but
they could not brook strict discipline, and as they grew more
luxurious their disinclination[9] to a long campaign was duly
reflected in the ranks of the Diet. The national haughtiness
found its vent in intestine strife. ♦The veto.♦ A most disastrous
provision made it necessary for every resolution of the Diet
to be unanimous. Any deputy might, without reason assigned,
pronounce his veto upon the subject under discussion; nay, more,
by a refinement of this privilege,[10] he might by withdrawing
declare the Diet dissolved, and until he was induced or compelled
to return public business was suspended. This power, though very
ancient, was not exercised till 1652, but was afterwards repeated
with increasing frequency. It would once have been dangerous
for an individual to defy the mass, but when the republic was
in a state of anarchy it was easy to find supporters, and the
gold of France or Austria often proved a powerful incentive.
♦Obstruction.♦ Another mode of obstruction was called drawing out
the Diet, which could not[11] sit for more than six weeks. This
consisted in the proposal and tedious discussion of irrelevant
matter, until the day of dissolution arrived. In this state of
things a resort to force was very common, and the public streets
were often the scenes of a sanguinary fray.

♦Confederations.♦ When the Diet was not sitting, the Senate,
with the king as its president, was responsible for the
government. But if the nobles were dissatisfied with their
measures, or if the veto had hopelessly clogged the wheels of
state, recourse was had to an extraordinary assembly called a
“confederation.” ♦Convocations.♦ This was formed sometimes to
resist, sometimes to enforce the established law; and in the
latter case it often took the shape of a “convocation,” which
exactly resembled the Diet except that the veto was inadmissible.
The Poles were always more happy in organising anarchy than
in organising their institutions. Of course, the authority of
a confederation depended upon the number and weight of its
adherents; and it frequently happened that several of these
bodies were sitting at the same time. We sometimes find in
Polish history the Senate at variance with the Diet, the Diet
with the king, the king with the grandees, the greater with the
lesser nobles, and the whole nobility with their armed serfs.
♦Strife among the nobles--how caused.♦ Among the nobles religious
inequality was the principal cause of dissension. Although none
but Catholics could hold offices of state, a large number of
the poorer nobles were “Dissidents,” and belonged to the Greek
or Protestant persuasion. ♦Their three main classes.♦ They were
thus naturally jealous of the official families; for, though
all were theoretically equal, the differences of wealth and
prestige tended to divide them into three classes: first, a few
princely families who owned whole provinces and aspired to the
posts of the supreme executive; secondly, the average gentry,
who scrambled for the lesser offices, or were indignant at their
religious disabilities; and thirdly, the poorer freemen, who made
up for their lack of power by a spirit of captious disaffection.
In stormy times the confusion was increased by half the middle
gentry taking part with the grandees and half with the freemen.

♦Ancestry of John Sobieski.♦ From the highest of these classes
was sprung John Sobieski. He belonged to that group of families,
whose ancestral device was the Buckler--the most illustrious of
the rude Polish coats of arms. Far back in the mist of ages are
placed the exploits of Janik--the Polish Hercules--the founder
of his house. His immediate ancestors had gained less doubtful
laurels. His grandfather, Mark Sobieski, palatine of Lublin,
had so great a military reputation that King Stephen Bathori
(1575-1586) was wont to say that he would not fear to entrust
to his single arm the defence of the fortunes of Poland. His
father, James Sobieski, was not only an able general, but a man
of cultivated mind, and of some diplomatic skill. To him belonged
the real credit of the famous victory of Kotzim in 1621 over a
vast host of Turks and Tartars, although the nominal commander
of the Poles was the young Prince Wladislas, son of Sigismund
III. His success in negotiating the treaty that followed was
so conspicuous that he was afterwards sent on several foreign
embassies to the Western Powers. Such eminence in peace as
in war doubtless procured for him the post of castellan of
Cracow[12]--the first secular senator of Poland, inferior only
to the archbishop of Guesna. He had also been four times elected
Marshal of the Diet--an office resembling that of Speaker of
the House of Commons. In or about 1620 he married Theophila
Danilowiczowna, grand-daughter[13] of the famous Zolkiewski. That
heroic general, after taking Moscow (1610), and carrying off to
Poland the Czar Basil VI., met his death (October 5th, 1620) at
Kobylta on the Dniester, with a band of 8,000 men, at the hands
of 70,000[14] Turks and Tartars. Thus on both sides the ancestors
of Sobieski were worthy of his subsequent fame. ♦Birth.♦ The
circumstances of his birth are romantic; but they rest on no less
an authority than a manuscript in his own hand. On the 17th of
June, 1624,[15] his father’s castle of Zloçkow in the palatinate
of Red Russia[16] was visited by a storm of unprecedented
violence. The old mansion, which stood exposed on the bare
summit of a vast “mohila” or Slavonic tumulus, was shaken to its
foundations, and some of the attendants were rendered deaf for
life. Amid the raging of the elements was born John Sobieski, in
the presence of the widow of the conqueror of Moscow; and the
respect for prodigies,[17] which distinguishes the Poles above
all other modern nations, must have marked him out in their
eyes for an exceptional career. Yet his youth was singularly
peaceful. Except for the war against Gustavus Adolphus, which
was terminated by the peace of Altmark (September 15th, 1629),
and an incursion of the Tartars (1636), successfully repelled
by Wladislas VII., Poland enjoyed from the time of his birth an
unexampled respite of more than twenty years.

♦Education.♦ During this period John and his elder brother Mark
were enjoying all the benefits of a careful education. Their
father chiefly resided at his princely estate of Zolkiew, which
had come to him through his wife--a domain as large as some of
our English counties, and embracing a hundred and fifty villages.
He had engaged as their tutor the learned Stanislas Orchowski;
but he himself superintended their more important studies. The
treatise which he has left upon education is alone enough to show
how well the task must have been performed. Besides instructing
them in several languages he imparted to them his own skill in
music, painting, and the other fine arts; and they had the rare
advantage of a home in which to the barbaric splendour of a
Polish noble were added some of the refined tastes of an Italian
court. Ardent and robust by nature, John early distinguished
himself by his activity in hunting, and in the use of the small
sword; and the traditions of his family soon taught him against
whom his strength was to be employed. The inscription[18] on his
great grandfather’s tomb in the neighbouring Dominican chapel,
erected by his mother, aroused in his mind what may be called his
life-purpose--to curb at all hazards the advance of the Turkish
power.

♦His travels.♦ At length in 1643 the castellan sent his two sons
to travel in the West. Their longest stay was made in France--at
that time closely united to Poland by the marriage of Wladislas
with a French princess[19]--but they also visited England[20]
and Italy. At Paris they frequented the salon of the Duchesse de
Longueville, sister of the great Condé; and it was here that an
intimacy sprang up between John Sobieski and the French general,
who, though only three years his senior, was already crowned with
the laurels of Rocroi. The prince procured for his friend the
honour of a commission in the king’s Grands Mousquetaires, and
continued in correspondence with him during the remainder of his
life. Quitting France before the disturbances of the Fronde, the
brothers took the measure of the Ottoman power at Constantinople,
and were preparing to pass into Asia, when news arrived which
called them home to defend not only their country but their
own fireside. It was to the effect that the Cossack serfs had
revolted, and were carrying all before them.

♦Cossack revolt caused by the oppression of the serfs.♦ Of the
grinding oppression under which the serf class laboured we have
already spoken. Some efforts had been made by Casimir the Great
(1347) to give them a legal footing in the state; and he had
even succeeded so far as to provide that the murderer of a serf
should pay a fine of ten marks.[21] But his regulations were
soon broken, and the condition of the peasants in the outlying
districts became more hopeless than before. ♦The Cossacks.♦ The
situation of the Cossacks was peculiar. Inhabiting a wild though
fertile country on the borders of Poland and Muscovy called the
Ukraine (Slavonic for “borderland,” exactly the French “marche”),
they had long retained their independence, and had only been
incorporated in the kingdom by the wise measures of Stephen
Bathori (1582). ♦Under Stephen Bathori.♦ Originally deserters
from the armies of the republic, they had betaken themselves to
the almost inaccessible isles of the Borysthenes, where they
led a life of plunder in defiance of their neighbours. Their
piratical skiffs were an object of terror even to the dwellers
on the Golden Horn. Bathori did all that lay in his power to
conciliate a people who, in spite of their savage habits, were
noted for their fidelity. He gave them the city of Tretchimirow
in Kiowia, and formed them into regiments, for the defence of
Poland against the Tartars. They were granted the power of
electing their own hetman, or Grand General, who, on doing homage
to the king, received as the symbols of his office a flag, a
horsetail, a staff, and a looking-glass. James Sobieski in his
historical work[22] notices the value to a retreating Polish army
of their waggon-camps, which they called “Tabors,”[23] and which
they seem to have drawn up after the fashion of a Dutch “laager.”
Unfortunately their independence was confined to the period of
military service. The Ukraine, like other parts of the kingdom
of Poland, was divided into estates of crown land, which, like
fiefs,[24] were held by the nobles on condition of furnishing the
state with troops. But this condition was seldom fulfilled even
in Great Poland, and never in a distant province, such as the
Ukraine, where all the nobles were absentees.

♦Their grievances.♦ There was thus no tie except that of
gratitude for their honourable position in war to bind the
Cossacks to Poland; and this was soon broken by the outrageous
rapacity of the Jewish stewards to whom the nobles entrusted
their lands. Complaints were lodged in the Diet by the Cossack
chiefs, who claimed to send thither their own representatives;
but the nobles, whose love of domination was as strong as their
love of liberty, turned a deaf ear; and Wladislas VII., seeing
the fatal tendency of this policy, had the hardihood to remind
the Cossacks that they still possessed their sabres.[25] ♦Success
of their revolt.♦ At length, in 1648, a dastardly outrage by
a steward on Bogdan Chmielniçki, one of their chiefs, forced
them to follow this hint; and electing the injured man as their
hetman, they poured into Poland with the Tartars as their allies.
Bogdan was an experienced soldier. He completely defeated
Potoçki, the Grand General of Poland, at Korsun (May 26th, 1648);
and numbers of disaffected Poles--Arian nobles, Calvinistic
burghers, outlawed serfs--at once flocked to his standard. ♦Death
of Wladislas VII.♦ Six days before this disaster Wladislas VII.
expired at Warsaw; and his death at this moment blighted the
hopes of the moderate party. James Sobieski, who had done all he
could to save Bogdan from oppression, had died in March (1648)
when the king was on the point of naming him the representative
of Poland at the congress in Westphalia. ♦Danger of Poland.♦
The nobility in general were bent on revenge. Assembling their
forces in haste, they suffered an ignominious defeat at Pilawiecz
(September 23rd); and Poland was left exposed to the Cossacks.
Madame Sobieska, with her two daughters, and many others of
the nobility, took refuge within the walls of Zamosç, and was
soon joined by her sons, who had evaded without difficulty the
undisciplined besiegers.

♦Election of John Casimir.♦ At this crisis the nobles assembled
at Warsaw to elect a king. They chose (November 20th) Cardinal
John Casimir, brother of the late king, who put off the purple
to assume the crown. The new prince saw the necessity of
conciliation, and had the courage, in spite of the opposition
of the nobles, to open a negotiation with the rebels. Bogdan,
who had been deserted by the Tartars, was not disinclined for
peace, and, in order to show his respect for the king, retired
thirty leagues from Zamosç. ♦His peace violated by the nobles.♦
But the treachery of the nobles frustrated the intentions of
their sovereign. Jeremiah Wiesnowiesçki, the harsh oppressor
of the serfs, fell suddenly upon the unsuspecting Cossacks,
and routed them with great slaughter. After this the war broke
out afresh. Bogdan sought and obtained the alliance of Isla,
khan of the Crim Tartars, and in an engagement at Zbaraz, in
Volhynia (June 30th, 1649) he gained another great victory.
♦Sobieski joins the army,♦ At this news the king hastened to join
the remnants of the defeated army, and was accompanied by John
Sobieski in command of a select troop. The young noble had been
prevented taking part in the events of the past six months by a
wound which he had received in a duel with one of the family of
Paz, the most powerful clan in Lithuania; and he afterwards had
cause to regret the quarrel. His presence with the king at this
juncture was destined to be of some importance. No sooner had
Casimir assembled the discomfited Poles, than half his available
force, terrified at the enemy’s numbers, insisted on retreat,
and proceeded to put their threat into execution. ♦And quells a
mutiny.♦ Sobieski galloped into their midst, and, exerting that
native eloquence of which he possessed no common share, succeeded
in restoring them to their allegiance. His efforts were rewarded
by the starosty of Javarow--a military post which had been
previously held by his father and by the great Zolkiewski. ♦Peace
of Zborow.♦ One of the immediate results of the bold front now
presented by the Poles, was the conclusion of the peace of Zborow
(August 18th), in which the Cossack chief displayed remarkable
moderation. He consented to do homage to the king and to forego
his just demands for vengeance upon his oppressors, on condition
that all his adherents should receive a free pardon.

♦Broken by the Poles. June 30th, 1651.♦ But the Polish nobility
were incapable of learning any lesson from their recent
reverses. War was again declared by the Diet in 1650; and the
next year Bogdan was defeated by Casimir at Berestezko, owing
principally to the desertion of the Tartars. In this battle,
John Sobieski received a wound in his head, from the effects
of which he suffered constantly until his death. A transitory
peace which followed this success was again broken by the Poles,
who attacked Bogdan’s son Timothy at Batowitz (June 2nd, 1652),
but were surrounded and annihilated. ♦Death of Mark Sobieski.♦
The prisoners, among whom was Mark Sobieski,[26] were all
massacred after the battle by the Tartar khan. Another duel wound
fortunately prevented John from being among the victims. But he
had the pain of seeing that his folly had made his mother despair
of the name of Sobieski. Overwhelmed with grief at the loss of
her favourite son, and auguring ill from the headstrong passions
of John, she quitted Poland and took refuge in Italy.

♦Lessons of the Cossack War.♦ The Cossack war, which had
now lasted with little intermission for four years, demands
considerable attention. It throws a lurid light on the vices
of the Polish constitution, and its bitter lessons cannot have
been lost upon a thoughtful mind like that of John Sobieski. By
oppression the Polish nobility had converted faithful subjects
into deadly foes; and their pride and treachery contrast most
unfavourably with the moderation of the Cossack chief. Although
we have little information about this period of Sobieski’s life,
his ardent temper makes it probable that he joined at first with
the most uncompromising of the nobles. But their independence
of the regal authority, their disregard for treaties with the
serf class, and, above all, their unprecedented employment of
the fatal veto (1652), must have soon convinced him that the
discipline of self-restraint was the only means left to save his
country. Hereafter we shall see him nobly practising this lesson
under the most fearful provocation.

♦Anarchy.♦ At this period (1654) Poland was distracted by
anarchy at home, and in the next six years she suffered all the
usual consequences of civil strife. Henceforward the Cossack war
loses its character of a struggle between the republic and her
rebellious subjects. ♦The Cossacks call in Muscovy.♦ Its natural
result was to draw into the contest those neighbouring nations
who might hope to gain advantage from the distracted state of
Poland. Bogdan, despairing of concluding any definitive peace
without foreign aid, persuaded the Czar Alexis to declare war
against Poland, and, on the frivolous pretext that his titles had
not received due respect, that monarch invaded Lithuania and took
Smolensko (Sept. 10th, 1654).

♦War with Sweden.♦ But a greater enemy was arising in the north;
Charles X. of Sweden, the “Pyrrhus of the North,” succeeding to
the throne on the abdication of Christina in June 1654, had set
his mind on the conquest of Poland. The Polish vice-chancellor,
Radzejowski, who had been expelled from the kingdom by Casimir
on some private quarrel, took care that Charles should be well
acquainted with the weakness to which his country had been
reduced. He gave the welcome advice that no apology which
Casimir might make as to his assumption of the title of king of
Sweden[27] should receive any attention. The king of Poland was
anxious to send Sobieski to Stockholm to avert the impending
storm; but he declined the hopeless mission. Charles eagerly
took advantage of the anarchy caused by the Russian war, and
invaded Pomerania and Great Poland in August, 1655. He gained
an easy victory over the divided forces of the republic, and
entered Warsaw at the end of the month. Cracow surrendered
early in October, and, as Casimir had fled into Silesia, the
whole country lay at his feet. ♦Charles X. conquers Poland,♦
Surrounded by such a host of enemies, the nobles seemed to have
no choice but to offer the crown to Charles X.; and the standing
army, called Quartians,[28] among whom Sobieski commanded a
troop, took the oath to the king of Sweden. ♦But alienates
it.♦ But Charles was not inclined to keep faith with a people
whom he had conquered in three months. Contrary to his express
promises hereditary monarchy was proclaimed, heavy contributions
were levied, and the Catholics were openly persecuted by the
Swedes. The national spirit was deeply wounded by the haughty
demeanour of the conquerors. ♦Resumption of the war.♦ During the
absence of Charles in Prussia, a confederation was formed in the
palatinate of Beltz under the auspices of the absent Casimir, to
which Sobieski attached himself, and with him the able generals
Lubomirski and Czarnieçki. When Charles returned he found that
he had the greater part of Poland to re-conquer. ♦Successes of
Sobieski.♦ In conveying his army through the marshes of Little
Poland, he was blocked up between the Vistula and the San by
Sobieski’s cavalry, and was only extricated by the prompt arrival
of reinforcements. Soon after, while he was superintending the
siege of Dantzic, Casimir and the valiant Czarnieçki recaptured
Warsaw; but they lost it again on his return after a battle
of three days, in which Sobieski, who commanded a troop of
Tartars[29] trained by himself, performed prodigies of valour.
But other nations had looked on with jealousy at the brilliant
career of the king of Sweden. The Czar, resenting the manner
in which he had been baulked of his prey, declared war against
Sweden; and the emperor Ferdinand III., just before his death
(May 30th, 1657), concluded an offensive and defensive alliance
with the king of Poland. ♦Charles attempts a partition,♦
Meanwhile Charles was using all his efforts to carry out a scheme
for the partition of Poland between himself, the Czar, the Great
Elector of Brandenburg,[30] and Ragoczy, prince of Transylvania.
But her time had not yet come. Almost at the same moment Denmark
declared war against Charles, the Elector deserted him, and
Austria prepared to send troops in support of her new ally (June,
1657). ♦But is obliged to retire.♦ In July Charles evacuated
Poland in all haste, and began his wonderful campaigns in
Denmark. Another stroke of good fortune was the death of Bogdan
Chmielniçki (August 27th), and the return of a large number of
Cossacks to their allegiance. ♦Gradual recovery of Poland,♦
Though sorely shaken by the terrible ordeal through which she had
passed, Poland gradually recovered her independence. Treaties
were concluded with the Elector, and with Prince Ragoczy, with no
more serious loss than the suzerainty of ducal Prussia (1658);
and two years later, shortly after the death of Charles X., a
peace was signed with Sweden at Oliva (May 3rd, 1660). ♦Sobieski
rewarded.♦ Casimir re-established his authority throughout
the kingdom; and in distributing rewards to his most faithful
subjects, conferred upon Sobieski the post of Korongy, or
standard-bearer of the crown.[31]

♦War with Muscovy.♦ There still remained, however, the war with
Muscovy. The ever-active Czar Alexis, now that he could take
his own measures with Poland, overran Lithuania, and captured
Wilna, its capital. But his general, Sheremetieff, suffered a
serious defeat, and shut himself up in his fortified camp at
Cudnow to await the arrival of a large reinforcement of Cossacks.
♦Victories of Sobieski at Slobodyszcza and Cudnow.♦ Sobieski
was detached with a small force from the investing army to
confront this new enemy. Finding them encamped on the heights
of Slobodyszcza, he carried the position by assault, and gained
a victory so complete that the Cossacks laid down their arms
(Sept. 17th, 1660). He then hastened back to Cudnow, and joined
in the attack on the Muscovite camp, which was so successful that
the whole army, with their ammunition and stores, fell into the
hands of the Poles. Such a brilliant campaign astonished Europe.
Sobieski, whose reputation was already high in his own country,
was justly credited with giving her breathing time to recover
from her misfortunes.

♦Anarchy in Poland.♦ She employed it, according to her wont, in
internal dissensions. It is difficult to trace the true origin of
the deplorable state of Poland during the next six years; but it
may be attributed, in the first instance, to the foolish conduct
of the queen, Louise de Nevers. Though a woman of masculine
spirit, and exercising a great ascendancy over the uxorious
Casimir, she was herself entirely governed by the Jesuits.
♦1661.♦ They persuaded her, and through her the king, to violate
that article of the _pacta conventa_ by which he pledged
himself not to tamper with the succession to the crown. The
person for whom they designed it was her nephew, the young Duc
d’Enghien, son of the great Condé. ♦1662-3.♦ The power of French
gold soon converted the majority of the senate. But the lesser
nobles were not so easily cajoled, and they possessed a secret
though powerful supporter in Lubomirski, Grand Marshal and Second
General of the crown. To this main grievance was added another,
which pressed heavily on the poorer nobles. Large arrears of pay
were, as usual,[32] owing to the army, who accordingly formed
themselves into a confederation, and demanded the diminution
of the immense revenues of the clergy. This brought upon them
all the thunders of the Church; and the fearful spectacle was
presented of a country divided into hostile camps, in which the
senate was at enmity with the diet, the clergy with the army, the
larger with the lesser nobility. Sobieski and other patriotic
spirits tried to strike at the root of the evil, and furnished
funds from their private resources for the payment of arrears. As
this did not allay the complaints of the army, the senate opened
a negotiation with the malcontents from Sobieski’s “court”[33] at
Zolkiew, which was so far successful that the king was able to
lead them against Muscovy. ♦Campaign against Muscovy.♦ But the
campaign, though not disastrous, was not especially fortunate;
and the absence of Lubomirski, who had been kept at home by the
king’s suspicions, created general discontent.

On his return the king summoned Lubomirski to trial on a
charge of high treason. He did not appear, and was condemned to
perpetual banishment and the loss of his honours and estates.
♦Sobieski, Grand Marshal and Second General.♦ His office of Grand
Marshal was bestowed on Sobieski, and that of Second General on
Czarnieçki; but the latter dying shortly after, this post was
also conferred on Sobieski. The appointments were most politic,
for Sobieski was a great favourite with the army. His duties
having kept him constantly on the Cossack frontier, he had not
compromised himself with either party.

♦Marriage of Sobieski.♦ These signs of the royal favour were
followed by another which bound him still more to the interests
of the court. On his visit to Warsaw to assume the insignia
of his offices, he became enamoured of a French lady in the
retinue of the queen, Mary Casimira d’Arquien, who had lately
become a widow by the death of the rich Prince Zamoyski. ♦His
wife.♦ She was daughter to the Marquis d’Arquien; captain of
the guards to the Duke of Orleans, and had attended the queen
from France nineteen years before. Though over thirty years
of age, she still possessed in a remarkable degree all those
fascinations which usually belong to extreme youth. Dr. South,
who saw her seven years later, says that even then she did not
look more than twenty.[34] To these advantages she united a
piquant vivacity which had a peculiar charm for Sobieski. His
passion was so strong[35] that he besought the queen’s consent
to their immediate union. Scarcely four weeks had elapsed since
the death of Zamoyski, to whom she had borne several children;
but so necessary was it to conciliate the new officer that the
queen gave way, and the marriage was celebrated, according to
the Polish fashion, by a festival of three days. ♦July 5-7,
1665.♦ Sobieski was hereafter to receive severe punishment for
this indecent haste in the conduct of his wife. ♦Rebellion of
Lubomirski.♦ In the midst of the marriage _fêtes_ tidings arrived
that Lubomirski, who had entered Poland with a large army, was
ungenerously plundering his estate at Zolkiew, and carrying off
his stud of horses. The proscribed general, who was a prince of
the empire, had received secret support from Leopold of Austria,
and was now in open rebellion.

The whole kingdom was divided against itself. The palatinates
of the west, gained over by Austria, resented the predominance
of France at court, and joined Lubomirski. ♦Sobieski tries
arbitration.♦ An effort was made by Sobieski to get the decision
of the Diet on Lubomirski’s claims, but the assembly was
dissolved by the fatal veto, and the two armies advanced to the
struggle. Contrary to the earnest advice of Sobieski, Casimir
made his attack in the marshes of Montwy (July 11th, 1666),
and his troops, entangled in the difficult ground, were easily
defeated. ♦Peace with Lubomirski.♦ But Lubomirski was anxious to
come to terms, and, having extracted a promise from Casimir that
he would not interfere in the succession, he waived his personal
claims, and retired to Silesia, where he died six months after.

His faction, however, was not silenced. Bands of hungry soldiers,
clamouring for pay, levied black-mail upon the provinces; and the
central authority seemed powerless to restrain them. ♦Invasion of
the Tartars.♦ At this juncture news arrived that 80,000 Tartars
were plundering Volhynia, and that the Cossacks under Doroscensko
were preparing to join them. The utmost consternation prevailed
at Warsaw; a peace was hastily patched up with Muscovy, and
efforts were made to raise fresh troops. But the treasury was
empty; the republic had only 10,000 men under arms; and many of
these were most imperfectly equipped. Casimir applied vainly for
help at the principal European courts; Brandenburg alone sent a
few companies of infantry. At this crisis Potoçki, the aged Grand
General, died, and the king at once appointed the Grand Marshal
to the post.

♦Sobieski Grand General,♦ Never before had any Polish subject
united in his own person these two offices. As Grand General
Sobieski had absolute control over military affairs, and could
quarter his army where he pleased; ♦As well as Grand Marshal.♦
as Grand Marshal he was at the head of the administration,
received foreign ambassadors, and could inflict death without
appeal. In most points, as in the last, his power was really
greater than that of the king; for although the king could confer
these honours, he could not revoke them. No higher testimony
could have been paid to the prudence and ability of Sobieski
than the readiness with which these unusual powers were granted,
and the very transitory murmurs that they provoked amongst an
exceptionally jealous nobility. His rise, though fortunate at
its close, had not been so rapid as to be out of proportion to
his merits. The gravity of the crisis doubtless operated in
his favour; and he took pains at once to relieve all suspicion
by his temperate and vigorous action. His persuasive eloquence
silenced the clamours for pay, and he hesitated not to drain
his private coffers in raising new levies. ♦His bold plan of
the campaign.♦ By this means he doubled his original forces,
and then prepared to execute a grand plan for the destruction
of the Tartars. Throwing his army into the fortified camp of
Podhaic, a small town in Red Russia, he detached several large
bodies of cavalry to act in the vicinity. These had orders on a
given day, when the enemy had worn himself out by the assault, to
close round the vast host and help their general to assume the
offensive. To divide so small a force seemed hazardous in the
extreme,[36] and the soldiers murmured openly that their lives
were to be thrown away. The cool courage of Sobieski made them
blush for shame. “He gave all cowards liberty to depart; as for
himself, he was determined to remain with all those who loved
their country.” ♦Sept. 28th-Oct. 15th, 1667.♦ The enemy appeared;
and for seventeen days in succession this heroic band withstood
their most determined assaults. Finally Sobieski, whose troops
had suffered far less loss than they inflicted, gave the signal
to his outlying parties, and attacked the Tartars in front and
rear. ♦Great victory of Podhaic.♦ The battle was hotly contested;
but at length victory declared for the Poles. Galga, the Tartar
khan, found his troops so severely handled that he was forced
to sue for peace, and concluded an alliance with the republic.
Doroscensko, on the part of the Cossacks, agreed to restore to
the nobles their estates in the Ukraine.

♦Gratitude of Poland.♦ Poland had been saved almost by a miracle;
and multitudes flocked to the churches to return thanks to God.
When the danger was at its height, so inert and feeble was
the body-politic that Casimir had found it impossible to arm
the Pospolite for the relief of their devoted general. Their
gratitude was now the greater that their sacrifices had been
few. When Sobieski on his return detailed in modest language the
success of the campaign, and ascribed his victory to the mercy of
God, the Diet rose with one accord and answered that the republic
knew who had saved her, and would remember to thank him. ♦Birth
of a son.♦ The tidings reached his wife, who was staying with
her relatives in France, just after she had borne him a son; and
such was the general admiration that Louis XIV. and Henrietta
Maria, the mother of Charles II., were willing to answer for the
child at the font. He was named James Louis, in honour of his
grandfather and his illustrious sponsor.

No successes against the invader could allay the internal broils
of Poland. Although Casimir had lost his queen in the spring of
the year 1667, the outcry against the French influence continued
unabated. On one occasion the king so far forgot himself as to
exclaim, in full diet, “If you are weary of me, I am no less
weary of you.” ♦Abdication of John Casimir.♦ At length, bowed
down by domestic sorrow, tormented by scruples of conscience,[37]
and disgusted at the turbulence of the nobles, he came to the
resolution, which those words seemed to imply, of laying aside
the crown. He took farewell of the Diet in a dignified speech,
in which he asked only for six feet of earth, where his bones
might rest in peace. If he had offended any, he begged them to
forgive him as freely as he forgave those who had offended him.
The assembly was profoundly affected; but, although Sobieski
and others from motives of gratitude besought him to retain the
crown, it does not appear that this was the wish of the nation.
We are told that on the day after his abdication the people
hardly paid him the respect due to a gentleman;[38] and much
ill-feeling was shown in the Diet, when the question of his
pension came before it. After remaining in Poland too long for
his own credit[39] he retired to France, where Louis XIV. gave
him the Abbey of St. Germain. He was the last of the dynasty of
Jagellon,[40] which had reigned in Poland nearly three hundred
years.

♦Candidates for the throne.♦ The number of aspirants to the vacant
throne was, as usual, considerable. The Czar Alexis massed 80,000
troops on the frontier in support of the candidature of his son,
but the Poles took little notice either of him or his manœuvres.
The Prince of Condé was supported by Sobieski and many of the
Senate, but the prejudice against a Frenchman was universal among
the lesser nobles. The two candidates most in favour were Prince
Charles of Lorraine, secretly supported by Austria, and Philip,
Duke of Neuberg, who, though sixty years of age, was set up as
the real choice alike of the King of France and the Emperor. The
personal advantages of the former were far superior to those of
his rival; he was young, courageous, and affable; but he had
neither money nor lands, while the offers of the Duke of Neuberg
were most advantageous to the state. ♦Disorder on the field of
election.♦ The nobles, fully alive to the value of their votes,
postponed their decision till May, 1669; and meanwhile the field
of election was as usual a scene of wild confusion. A large party
clamoured for the exclusion of the Prince of Condé, and, although
Sobieski protested against such a measure as interfering with
the freedom of the proceedings, it was carried through by the
violence of its promoters. At length the tumult rose to such a
height that Sobieski, as Grand Marshal, threatened to fire upon
the rioters. Order was thus partly restored; and soon the cry
of a Piast! a Piast! was heard among the crowd. Sobieski might
well suppose that no Piast (or native Pole) would be thought so
worthy as himself to wear the crown, but perhaps he had made
himself too unpopular during the election. The cry was followed
by the proposal of Michael Wiesnowiesçki--a young noble barely
thirty years of age, who had neither virtues, nor abilities, nor
riches to recommend him to their suffrages. ♦Proclamation of King
Michael.♦ Yet such was the fickle excitability of the assembly
that he was chosen by acclamation; and, although he implored
to be spared the honour, and even attempted to escape, he was
dragged to the throne, and invested with the supreme authority.

The reign of such a king could scarcely be prosperous. Ere long
the nobles had cause to regret that they had not chosen the
man who of all native Poles was worthiest to hold the sceptre.
Michael himself, when mounted upon the throne, could not but
see that he was far from being the first man in the republic.
The thought wounded his pride, which was soon to become as
conspicuous as his previous humility. ♦His hatred of Sobieski,♦
He hated Sobieski with a hatred the more violent that he was
unable to abridge his powers. He refused the grand coach-and-six
which it was the established custom for the general to present to
the new sovereign.[41] He plotted with Christopher and Michael
Paz, respectively chancellor and grand general of Lithuania,
against the man with whom they had a long-standing family
feud.[42] ♦Who was popular with the army.♦ But Sobieski, besides
having the army at his back, was zealously supported by the
greater nobles, and although a struggle appeared imminent the
king’s party forbore for a time. Efforts were made to promote a
reconciliation by marrying Michael to the daughter of Sobieski’s
sister;[43] but the plan was overthrown by the arrival of an
ambassador from Leopold to offer him the hand of the Arch-Duchess
Eleanor. ♦Marriage of Michael.♦ The honour was too tempting for
the weak-minded king; he accepted from the emperor the order of
the Golden Fleece, and hastily concluded the marriage without the
sanction of the republic. Loud were the complaints against this
breach of the constitution,[44] even among his own supporters,
the lesser nobles. Austria had always been distrusted by the
Poles, but at this moment there was a special reason for her
unpopularity.

♦Siege of Candia. Designs of Ahmed Köprili.♦ On the 2nd of
September, 1669, after a most memorable defence of more than
twenty years, the city and island of Candia surrendered to the
Turkish fleet, commanded by the Grand Vizier, Ahmed Köprili. The
vast designs of this able minister were the terror of Europe.
Five years earlier (1664) he had concluded with Austria a twenty
years’ peace, on terms most favourable to the Turks; and it was
well known that he only awaited the fall of Candia to resume
his schemes against Italy and the empire. That result was now
achieved, a peace was concluded with Venice, and he was free to
turn the Ottoman arms towards the west and north. ♦Terror in
Europe at♦ The Marquis de St. André,[45] who had commanded in
Candia, wrote into France that Köprili had opened the way to
Rome, and by what he knew of that general’s humour, he doubted
not but he had a design to turn St. Peter’s church into the Grand
Signor’s stables. ♦The rise of Turkey.♦ It is even said that Pope
Clement IX. died of grief at the Turkish successes. These fears
were doubtless in part well founded. During the Thirty Years’
War, and the intestine struggles which succeeded it in many of
the Christian states, the Turkish power had steadily increased.
Two Grand Viziers of consummate ability, Mahommed Köprili and his
son Ahmed, had strengthened the empire by numerous fortresses,
had sternly quelled the frequent revolts, and had introduced
a spirit of order and activity hitherto seldom seen among the
Turks. If the jealousies of France and Austria were to continue,
a wise vizier might well hope ere long to make a tremendous
onslaught upon Christendom. It is not surprising therefore that,
after the fall of Candia, the Poles should resent the Emperor’s
crafty aim to secure their taking up arms in his defence.

♦Revolt of the Cossacks.♦ But the danger was nearer than they
imagined. It threatened them as usual from the quarter of
the Cossacks, who had never since their first revolt in 1648
preserved a real peace with Poland. They viewed with dismay the
accession to the throne of a son of their former oppressor,
Jeremiah Wiesnowiesçki, and imagining that his first object would
be to recover his lost estates, they rushed to arms. ♦Sobieski’s
campaign of 1670.♦ Immediately after the coronation of Michael
(October, 1669) Sobieski was called to the frontiers. Acting
with his usual vigour, he sowed discord in the enemy’s ranks,
and drove them beyond the Dniester. So unexpected were these
victories that the Vice-Chancellor, writing to him in the king’s
name, says: “Envy itself is compelled to confess that, after God,
you alone, though at the head of so small a force, have once
more saved Poland.” ♦Michael refuses a policy of concession.♦
But the king and his general could not agree as to the measures
to be taken with the subdued Cossacks. Sobieski was most anxious
for a policy of concession. He had seen signs among them of a
disposition to call in the Turks, which they had attempted to
do in 1651, and he hoped to avert such a disaster. But Michael
was wholly deaf to argument. Finding that the Diet was likely to
declare against him, he easily procured its dissolution by the
veto (April 17th); and the event which Sobieski dreaded came to
pass. ♦The Cossacks apply to the Porte.♦ Doroscensko, the Cossack
chief, losing all hope of justice from Poland, and persuaded by
his metropolitan that he would find it at the patriarchate of the
East, went to Constantinople to throw himself at the feet of the
Sultan.

♦Köprili prepares for war with Poland.♦ Fortune seemed to play
into the hands of Ahmed Köprili. The restless janissaries needed
employment, and he preferred a gradual advance upon Austria to
a premature declaration of war with her. Poland seemed to offer
a splendid field. Proclaiming the Sultan the champion of the
oppressed, he prepared a great armament against the oppressor,
and created Doroscensko hospodar of the Ukraine. But his plans
required time to be fully matured, and in the meanwhile he
encouraged the Tartars to burst into Poland (1671).

♦Austrian influence in Poland.♦ The republic was at this moment
torn in pieces by the violence of the Austrian and French
factions. Leopold had followed up his success in the marriage
of his sister by surrounding the weak Michael with creatures
of his own, who used all their arts to persuade him that the
French monarch had been guilty of bringing in the Tartars against
him. Great efforts were made to include Sobieski in these
accusations. His second general, Demetrius Wiesnowiesçki, the
king’s cousin, who had long been jealous of him, actually put
Tartar captives to the torture to obtain evidence, but without
success. Sobieski, though deeply indignant, contented himself
with publishing a scornful manifesto, and then hastened to defend
the frontiers. At the meeting of the Diet (September 20th) the
deputies demanded the dismissal of the Austrian courtiers; and
the primate Prazmowski vehemently accused the king of treachery
to the nation, and of breaking his coronation oaths. ♦Michael
calls out the Pospolite.♦ Terrified at this attack, Michael
called out the Pospolite, which was devoted to his interests; but
he paid no attention to the entreaties of Sobieski that he would
use it against the invader. He could not bring himself to save
his kingdom at the expense of strengthening his rival.

♦“Miraculous campaign” of Sobieski.♦ Sobieski determined to
act without him. Equipping the regular army at his own cost,
he appeared to be covering Kaminiec, the key of south-eastern
Poland, but when the Tartar hordes had passed into Volhynia,
he marched with surprising celerity through Podolia, and cut
them off from their allies, the Cossacks. Trembling for their
retreat the barbarians broke up their camp, and hurried out
of the country as fast as they could, while Sobieski made a
triumphant progress through the Ukraine, capturing several
towns which had not seen a Polish army for twenty years, and
re-establishing communications with the friendly Moldavians.
Europe justly termed this “the miraculous campaign;” yet it was
accomplished almost solely by the strenuous exertions of the
commander. His troops were in the worst possible condition,
the Lithuanian army had disbanded without joining him, and the
jealousies of the different palatinates had prevented their
sending him any succours. He now begged for reinforcements to
enable him to dictate peace to the Tartars, and to fortify Poland
against the Turks; but the infatuated malice of the king made
it difficult for him even to keep together the troops under
his orders. ♦December, 1671. He falls sick.♦ At this juncture
fatigue, and perhaps chagrin at the treatment which he received,
laid Sobieski on the bed of sickness at Zolkiew; and the king
redoubled his efforts to separate him from the army. The attempt
recoiled upon his own head. That body at once moved their winter
quarters to the Palatinate of Russia, and formed themselves into
a confederation to protect their beloved general.

♦The Sultan declares war against Poland.♦ But the king’s
attention was soon most unpleasantly diverted elsewhere. In
the same month (December) an envoy from the Porte arrived at
Warsaw, and announcing that the Cossacks had been taken under
the protection of the Sublime Porte, demanded reparation for
the injuries which they had suffered. No resource was left to
the king’s party but to treat this as a mere blind intended to
conceal from Austria the Turkish advance on the side of Hungary.

♦Confederation against the king.♦ The patience of the great
nobles was now completely exhausted. Under the leadership of
Prazmowski they entered into a confederation to dethrone the
king. The advice of the primate was that they should take the
emperor and the Polish queen into their counsels, and provide
some candidate who would be ready to accept the queen’s hand.
Eleanor was consulted, and professed herself devoted to the
plan, if they would choose Charles of Lorraine, to whom she
was deeply attached. ♦Joined by Sobieski.♦ Sobieski, now
convalescent, was at length made acquainted with these projects.
He strongly opposed any scheme which would place the country
under the espionage of Austria; but being firmly convinced of
the necessity of a revolution, he exhorted them to choose the
brave Duke of Longueville, nephew of Condé. Prazmowski, nothing
daunted, sent the queen the duke’s portrait, and was assured of
her acquiescence. Everything seemed favourable for the _coup
d’état_; the Diet went out in a body to meet Sobieski; and
the rejoicings at his recovery were universal, when suddenly
news arrived that the Duke of Longueville had been slain at the
passage of the Rhine (June 12th, 1672). The party of the king,
and the Lithuanians, who had trembled at the coming storm, took
fresh courage, while the confederates were proportionately
disconcerted. Michael began to negotiate for Austrian troops to
employ against the Grand General; ♦Invasion of the Sultan.♦ but
in the midst of the confusion it was announced that Mahomet IV.
in person, with the Grand Vizier and 200,000 men, was advancing
upon Kaminiec. The king’s party loudly averred that this was a
fabrication of their opponents; the Lithuanians swore to defend
him to the death; ♦Sobieski proscribed.♦ and Sobieski, with
others of the leading nobles, was proscribed. This violence
raised a similar storm in the Polish army in Russia, who
surrounded their general, and swore to follow him to the end of
the earth. “I accept your oaths,” was his answer, “and the first
thing I require of you is to save Poland.”

Yet Poland seemed lost beyond all hope. Sobieski’s troops
scarcely amounted to 30,000 men, and there was now no chance of
uniting them to the Pospolite. ♦The Sultan takes Kaminiec,♦ The
Grand General flew to Kaminiec to reinforce and provision the
garrison; but he was obliged to leave it to its fate, for the
governor, who belonged to the king’s party, refused to admit any
of his force. Kaminiec was the only great fortress which Poland
possessed. Its natural position--defended on one side by the
river Smotrycz, and on the other by an inaccessible cliff--was
very strong; and the Poles constantly boasted that God, who built
it, would alone be able to take it. Yet so skilful were the
Turkish miners, after their long experience in Candia, that it
surrendered within a month.

The consternation at Warsaw was fearful. The king assembled
the Pospolite at Golemba, near the capital; but his one aim
was to conclude peace on any terms. ♦And advances on Leopol.♦
The Sultan, sending on an advanced guard to besiege Leopol,
the capital of Russia, encamped at Buczacz, where amongst the
Podolian mountains he enjoyed his favourite pastime of hunting.
Meanwhile Sobieski had not been idle. A large body of Tartars had
passed into Volhynia in support of the Turks, and, after loading
themselves with spoil and with a vast train of captives, prepared
to beat a retreat. Hovering always on their rear, Sobieski struck
a blow whenever it was practicable, and finally caught them in
a defile at Kalusz, in the Carpathian mountains. ♦Victory of
Sobieski over the Tartars.♦ After a great carnage he dispersed
them, recovered the spoil, and liberated nearly 30,000 Polish
captives. ♦His attack upon the Sultan’s camp.♦ He then formed
the daring plan of a night attack on Mahomet’s camp. By swift
and silent marches he approached unperceived, and burst with his
cavalry on the imperial tents. For a moment the quarters of the
Sultanas were in imminent danger; but the arrival of succours put
an end to the raid.

♦Peace of Buczacz.♦ With his small force Sobieski could do no
more than harass the Turkish army, yet it was with indignation
that he heard that the king had concluded a peace at Buczacz
(October 18th). Michael concealed the terms as long as he could;
and this increased the suspicions of the Grand General that they
were dishonourable to the country. At length it was found that
Podolia, the Ukraine, and Kaminiec had been ceded to the Porte,
and that the king had consented to pay an annual tribute of
22,000 ducats. In return for this the Vizier withdrew his army
from Polish soil; but he established a vast military camp with
80,000 men at Kotzim, on the Dniester, to overawe the vanquished
nation. By this treaty, which he had no power to make without the
sanction of the republic, the king of Poland reduced himself to
the condition of a vassal of the Sultan.

♦Hostility of the Pospolite to Sobieski.♦ Yet the leaders
of the Pospolite at Golemba, who dreaded nothing so much as
a long campaign, were loud in his defence. Suspecting that
Sobieski would not accept the peace, they renewed against him
the sentence of proscription, and confiscated his estates. On
receiving intelligence of these attacks, Louis XIV. offered him
a French dukedom and a marshal’s bâton; but Sobieski would not
forsake his country. Indeed his position did not justify it;
for his party grew stronger day by day, while the Pospolite,
ill-furnished with provisions, and rent in pieces by faction,
gradually melted away. At length the queen took on herself the
part of a mediator, and she was seconded by the Lithuanians,
who were weary of anarchy. It then appeared how strong a hold
Sobieski had upon the affections of the people. ♦Popularity of
Sobieski.♦ When his exploits during the war became generally
known there was an immense reaction in his favour. ♦Plot
against him.♦ His personal enemies, among whom may be reckoned
the king, viewed this with the utmost uneasiness, and a few of
them concocted an atrocious plot against him. They suborned
a poor noble, named Lodzinski, to come forward in the Diet
and declare that Sobieski had sold Kaminiec to the Turks for
1,200,000 florins, and that this money had been seen in waggons
on the way to its destination. This calumny raised the Diet to
the highest pitch of excitement, and they would have put the
slanderer in irons but for the intervention of the king. The
army declared that they would wash out the insult with blood;
but Sobieski calmed them, and proceeded to Warsaw to demand a
trial. He was welcomed with acclamations; the palace of Wiasdow,
decorated with all the trophies of Zolkiewski, was placed at his
disposal; and Michael sent the Grand Chamberlain to pay him his
compliments. ♦Discovered and punished.♦ Lodzinski, when brought
before a tribunal of senators and deputies, lost all courage, and
confessed that he had invented the story for the sum of 1,000
francs--promised him by certain of the nobles. He was condemned
to death; but the sentence could not be carried out without the
consent of the Grand Marshal, and he was therefore suffered to
live. The nobles who had been his instigators had to ask pardon
on their knees.

♦He persuades the Diet not to accept the peace.♦ The first
object of Sobieski in this sudden blaze of his popularity was
to procure the rupture of the peace of Buczacz. He at once
published a memorandum, setting forth necessary reforms in the
administration and the army, and promising that their adoption
would ensure a successful struggle against the Turks. The Diet
sent him a message in high-flown Polish rhetoric, in which they
begged for the presence of that hero “who, if the system of
Pythagoras be true, seems to unite in his own frame the souls
of all the great captains and good citizens of the past.” He
took his seat amid great enthusiasm (March 14th), and easily
persuaded the deputies to follow his advice. They did not now
dream of paying the tribute. They decreed an army of 60,000 men,
the establishment of a war-tax, and the despatch of embassies
for foreign aid, and finally placed in the hands of Sobieski
full powers both for peace and war. This was in effect to put
aside the king, and make the Grand Marshal Regent; but no voice
was raised against the proposal. ♦Their confidence in him.♦
Since there was only a trifling sum remaining in the exchequer,
Sobieski persuaded the Diet to use the treasure stored up as a
reserve in the castle of Cracow. This, with an opportune subsidy
which arrived from the Pope, was deposited with him instead of
the Grand Treasurer, as the person most likely to use them to
advantage.

♦His difficulties.♦ Such unbounded confidence carried with it a
responsibility which few men would have dared to face. Sobieski
accepted it cheerfully, yet at the outset of the campaign he
had to meet two difficulties, which he had not foreseen. His
old enemy, Michael Paz, caused much delay by arriving late with
his Lithuanians (Sept. 16th); and at the last moment the king
announced that he should put himself at the head of the force.
He came, and reviewed the troops; but during the ceremony he
was seized with illness; and the next morning the Poles raised
a hurra on seeing the “bonzuk,” or long lance, in front of the
Grand General’s tent in an upright position--a sure sign that
the king had quitted the army. The next day (October 11th), with
a force of nearly 40,000 men, and forty small field-pieces,
Sobieski began his march.

♦His plan of the campaign.♦ His plan of the campaign, though
simple, was boldly conceived. Having heard that Caplan Pacha,
with 30,000 men, was advancing through Moldavia to reinforce
the camp at Kotzim, he proposed to cut him off upon his march,
and then to turn upon the camp itself. If he should succeed in
capturing it, he hoped to isolate Kaminiec, and so to take it by
blockade, and recover all that had been ceded to the Porte. He
was not dismayed at the lateness of the season; for he trusted
that on this account the Turks would be less willing to fight.

♦March of the army.♦ The banks of the Dniester were reached after
three weeks’ march, and here a mutiny broke out among the troops,
which was industriously fomented by Michael Paz. They clamoured
for rest and provisions; Sobieski promised them both under the
tents of the barbarians. “My resolution,” said he, “is not to be
shaken. I intend to bury myself here or to conquer. You must do
the same, or nothing can save you.” His firmness had the desired
effect. They crossed the Dniester and penetrated into the forest
of Bucovina; but Sobieski was obliged to alter his original
plans. It would have been madness to wait for Caplan Pacha and
so give him time to join the camp; and yet his undisciplined
soldiery shrank from the inclement plains of Moldavia. He
therefore turned aside, and advanced at once on the entrenchments
at Kotzim.

♦Castle and camp of Kotzim.♦ The castle of that name was
strongly situated on the right bank of the Dniester, about twelve
miles from Kaminiec. Between this and the advancing Poles, at
the height of twenty feet from the plain, was the vast fortified
camp, unassailable on the side of the river, where the rocks were
steep, and surrounded on the other sides by a broad ravine. The
ground immediately in front of the entrenchments was marshy, and
broken up by rapid streams, and the Turks could sweep it from
end to end with their admirable artillery. Within the lines were
ranged 80,000 men, the flower of the Turkish army, most of them
spahis and janissaries, under the command of the Seraskier[46]
Hussein.

♦Insubordination of Paz.♦ The day after the Poles arrived
(November 10th) Paz declared an assault to be impracticable,
and announced his intention to retire. Sobieski replied with
truth that flight was not in their power except at the risk of
extermination. The enterprise indeed seemed superhuman; but the
Grand General ranged his troops in order of battle with full
confidence of success. During the day a large body of Moldavians
and Wallachians,[47] who occupied a spot on the left of the
Turkish camp, deserted to the Poles, and greatly raised their
drooping spirits. When night came on, the troops were still kept
under arms, although the weather was most severe. The snow fell
thickly, but Sobieski visited all the posts, and animated the men
by his cheerful manner. At length he reclined on the carriage of
a cannon and waited for the dawn.

♦Crisis in Sobieski’s life.♦ It was the crisis of his great
career; yet he could not but regard the scene as one of happy
omen. On this spot, more than fifty years before, his father had
gained a splendid victory over the Turks, which was followed by
a long peace. Then indeed the Poles were the defenders instead
of the assailants of the entrenchments; but that only made the
victory in prospect seem a more glorious prize.

♦He attacks the entrenchments.♦ At length the day broke, and
Sobieski observed the enemy’s lines much thinner than before.
Many of the Turks, exhausted by the unwonted cold, had sought
their tents, not dreaming for one moment that the Poles would
dare to attack them in daylight. “This is the moment that
I waited for,” cried Sobieski to his staff, and ordered at
once a general assault. After galloping down the lines with
a few encouraging words, he alighted from his horse, and led
the infantry and his own dismounted dragoons against the
entrenchments. The Turks, whose attention was distracted by a
false attack on another side, left a weak point in his front,
and Sobieski, though somewhat bulky, was the first to scale the
parapet. He was splendidly supported by his dragoons; and the
battle now raged in the midst of the tents. The infantry might
possibly have been surrounded, had not Jablonowski, Palatine of
Russia, dashed up a steep place with the best of the cavalry, and
rushed to the rescue. ♦Rout of the Turks,♦ Sobieski was supplied
with a horse, and the Turks now began to give way on all sides.
Soliman Pacha, at the head of the janissaries, tried to retreat
in good order to the plain; but he was charged by the Lithuanians
in front and by the Poles in the rear, and his fine troops were
cut to pieces. He is said to have himself fallen by the hand
of Sobieski, who despoiled him of his jewelled scimitar.[48]
The Turks fled in confused masses to the bridge leading to the
castle; but Sobieski had provided against this by sending his
brother-in-law, Radziwill, with a large detachment to seize
it. The only retreat now left them was the steep rock on the
river-side, from which thousands precipitated themselves into
the stream; ♦And complete victory of the Poles.♦ but the Polish
cavalry dashed in after them, and completed their destruction.
The carnage lasted more than three hours, during which half the
Turkish force was slain, and a large number taken prisoners. A
remnant of the original force succeeded in escaping to Kaminiec,
among whom was the Seraskier Hussein.[49]

♦Question of the prisoners.♦ It is difficult to credit the
statement of some historians, none of whom are contemporaries,
that Sobieski put all the prisoners to the sword.[50] Such an act
would have been opposed alike to his natural disposition and to
his defensive policy. Plain facts are against it; for some days
later the commander at Kaminiec, delighted at the generous terms
which he granted to the garrison of the castle (November 13th,),
released fifty prisoners without ransom. Had such an enormity
been committed, it must certainly have reached his ears, and
would have met with a prompt revenge.

♦Joy of the Poles.♦ Immediately after the victory, the Jesuit
confessor of Sobieski erected an altar in the pavilion of the
Seraskier, and the whole army, with tears of joy, attended
a thanksgiving service. The occasion was indeed affecting,
especially to their commander. Ere long Christendom was
resounding with the praises of one who had obtained the greatest
victory over the infidel since the battle of Ascalon. Sobieski
was most anxious to follow up his success. Honour forbade him
to desert the Moldavians and Wallachians, who had come over to
him at considerable risk; and he wished to cut off from the
Turks all chance of return. ♦Their advance upon the Danube.♦ He
put his cavalry in motion towards the Danube with the hope of
encountering Caplan Pacha. But that general, on hearing of the
disaster at Kotzim, retreated in all haste, and took with him the
Turkish garrisons on the left bank of the Danube. Such was the
panic in Turkey that the Sultan, who had advanced to Silistria,
hurried back to his capital. But the victorious advance of the
Poles was stopped, as they were entering Wallachia, by the news
of the death of their king.

♦Death of Michael.♦ On the night before the battle of Kotzim
(November 10th), Michael breathed his last at Leopol. His death
was caused by disease of the kidneys, but he had hastened his
end by the gluttonous voracity of his appetite, which passed all
bounds. He is said to have devoured in a few hours a thousand
Chinese apples, presented to him by the municipality of Dantzic.
His last hours were embittered by the fruits of his pusillanimous
submission to the Turks. A few days before his death a Turkish
Aga[51] arrived, bearing the caphtan, or robe of vassalage,
which the Sultan sends to his tributaries. The king was too
ill to receive him, and he had to depart without executing his
commission.

♦His character.♦ The incapacity of Michael deserves our pity,
because the crown was thrust upon him against his will. But he
was worse than incapable. Envy and fear alternately gained the
mastery over his despicable nature. His evil genius pursued
him to the end. Such was the general exultation at the victory
of Kotzim that there was no pretence of mourning for him; and
his body was conveyed to Warsaw, almost unnoticed, beneath the
triumphal arches erected in honour of his rival.

♦Exultation in Poland.♦ Three weeks elapsed after Michael’s
death before the news of the Grand General’s victory arrived at
Warsaw (December 4th), and in the interval the Poles had given up
the army for lost. It is somewhat surprising that in a nation so
excitable the sudden revulsion of feeling did not result at once
in the proclamation of Sobieski. Madame de Sevigné,[52] writing
just after the news arrived in Paris (December 22nd), says that
there no one doubted that he would be elected. The official
journals of France speak of him as “worthy of the throne which he
had saved.” But the Grand General himself was aware what a stormy
opposition his candidature would raise among the Lithuanians. It
was thus with unfeigned sorrow that he received the orders of the
primate-interrex to bring back his victorious troops. Everything
remained to be done towards reaping the benefits of his glorious
success. The Turks were still in Kaminiec; Moldavia and Wallachia
were yet to be freed; and the Cossacks who had sent in their
submission had to be confirmed in their allegiance. ♦Return of
the Polish army.♦ He did all he could. Though his men deserted
him daily by hundreds for the more profitable field of election,
he left a garrison in Kotzim, and detached 8,000 men for the
defence of his two allies. Then, with a heavy heart, he retraced
his steps to Leopol. He was here met by deputies from the most
distant palatinates, who showered upon him their congratulations;
but he showed no disposition to proceed to Warsaw. He knew
too well the activity of his enemies in the Diet, and he was
quite content that it should appear that he had no personal
pretensions.[53]

♦Projects of the queen.♦ While her late husband was still lying
in state the queen had resumed her favourite project of retaining
the crown by a marriage with Charles of Lorraine. That prince
left the army of the Rhine and appeared upon the frontiers;
and the emperor massed troops for his support on the borders
of Little Poland. ♦Candidates.♦ Sixteen[54] other candidates
appeared in the field, but many of these were Protestant
princes, whose chances were small; and the contest seemed to
lie between Lorraine and the young Duke of Neuberg, the son of
his old antagonist. The latter, though a German prince, was
supported by Louis XIV. as the heir of the Elector Palatine, and
therefore an important ally. ♦Preparations for the election.♦ No
artifice was spared by the queen’s party to prevent the proposal
of Sobieski. The Pazes brought forward a measure in the Diet
for the exclusion of a Piast on account of the misfortunes of
the late reign; and when this was unfavourably received, they
insisted that the new king must be unmarried.[55] The Diet
refused to sanction any measures of exclusion, and wrote to
press for Sobieski’s presence. But the hero was now at Zolkiew
attending his wife in a dangerous illness, upon the origin of
which various rumours were afloat. His enemies averred that he
had poisoned her himself to secure the queen’s hand; his friends
hinted that the queen had done so to be sure of the crown at all
hazards. These speculations were set at rest by the recovery
of Madame Sobieska; but her husband still delayed to appear in
public. He wrote, however, to the Diet, strongly urging that the
threatening attitude of the Turks rendered any delay dangerous;
and it was decided on this advice that the election should not be
made by the whole Pospolite, but by a representative Diet. But
the regulation was practically ineffective; for the Diet being
held in the open air, the nobles attended as usual to watch the
conduct of their deputies.

♦The field of election.♦ The field of Wola, close to Warsaw,
was the scene of this unique spectacle. On the day when the Diet
of election met (April 20) all the orders of the state attended
a grand service at the cathedral, and then set out on horseback
for the field. In the midst of the plain was pitched the “szopa,”
or grand pavilion of the Senate, surrounded by a ditch to keep
off intruders, and carefully closed to the public. Not far off,
under the open sky, sat the “kolo” or circle of deputies from
the palatinates. Round it were ranged 100,000 of the nobility,
jealously watching each turn of their deliberations. Every
human passion found vent in this motley assemblage. Riots were
frequent, and seldom ended without effusion of blood. Each
noble was attended by as many valets as he could muster, who
were generally a worse element of disorder than their lords. To
these must be added a crowd of mercenaries from neighbouring
nations, all eagerly intriguing for their national candidate.
Long tables were set up as the head-quarters of each faction,
and at these was heard an unceasing babel of noisy tongues. In
the vacant spaces of the arena jousts were frequent, for which
each palatinate brought out a splendid cavalcade. This was the
occasion when all gratified the national craving for display.
Many a poor noble would readily sell his vote, perhaps to more
than one candidate, for the pleasure of donning a brilliant
attire. Costly furs adorned their persons, and were almost
hidden beneath a profusion of jewels. The same reckless display
of the precious metals was seen in their accoutrements. Nor
were the bishops outdone by the cavaliers. Green, broad-brimmed
hats, with yellow or red pantaloons, were the common ornaments
of the soldiers of the Church. Every kind of merchandise was
represented. The Jews, who were ordinarily interdicted from
appearing in Warsaw, made the most of the short period when
the restriction was removed. The plain around the “szopa”
was dotted with an immense multitude of tents, most of them
devoted to buying and selling, but all decorated in the most
gorgeous style. Several pavilions of superb workmanship and
oriental magnificence, containing a large suite of luxurious
chambers, attracted special attention. They were the quarters
of the Seraskier Hussein--transported entire from the camp at
Kotzim--and were now surmounted by the shield of Sobieski.

♦Absence of Sobieski.♦ Nothing more was wanting to kindle the
liveliest enthusiasm for the absent general. His name was in
every mouth, and his non-appearance caused much surprise. The
“kolo” elected as their marshal the Lithuanian Sapieha, a
personal friend of the Grand General; and when Michael Paz pushed
his hatred so far as to revive his proposal for the exclusion of
a Piast (April 15), the attempt was so invidious that a party
began to form in Sobieski’s favour, though their designs were at
first studiously concealed.

♦His arrival.♦ On the 2nd of May it was announced that Sobieski
was approaching Warsaw. His arrival on the plain created the most
unbounded enthusiasm; the Diet rose and went to meet him; and his
progress for miles resembled a triumph. Sixty-six banners--the
spoil of Kotzim--were carried before him, to be his present,
as he said, to his future king; and behind him marched a corps
of captive janissaries, who were enrolled as his body-guard.
Like his countrymen, he did not disdain ostentation; for on the
croup of his horse hung a shield of gold, embossed with scenes
from his great career. Nature had gifted him with handsome
features and a dignified mien.[56] Though stout, he was tall and
erect; and his full flashing eye marked him at once as a man of
frankness, bravery, and powers of observation. Yet along with his
military air his face wore a sweetness of expression, which was
indescribably attractive. Few of the Pules could have witnessed
his entry without feeling that he was the fittest person to be
their king.

♦He proposes the Prince of Condé.♦ Two days after (May 4) the
Senate forsook the “szopa” and took their seat in the “kolo;”
and Sobieski, rising in his place, proposed the Prince of Condé,
whose military qualities, he said, made him the proper choice of
a nation which would have to struggle for its existence. This
unexpected event caused an immense commotion. The vast multitude
was split into the old factions of France and Austria, and for
days it seemed as if there was no solution but civil war. At
length (May 19) Sobieski consented to withdraw the name of Condé
if the queen would consent to marry the Duke of Neuberg. Hoping
against hope for the success of her party, Eleanor rejected this
offer with disdain; and the Lithuanians, who were encamped on the
other side of the Vistula, assumed a menacing attitude towards
the Polish Pospolite. At this crisis the Bishop of Cracow, who
was discharging the functions of interrex,[57] gave orders
for the singing of the canticles with which the debates were
accustomed to close. The familiar chant and its associations
produced a dead calm in the tempestuous assembly, and at
its conclusion the prelate ordered each palatinate to range
itself round the banner of its palatine. ♦Jablonowski proposes
Sobieski.♦ While his orders were being obeyed, Jablonowski,
palatine of Red Russia, the home of Sobieski, took advantage of
the silence to address all those within hearing. He represented
Lorraine as too devoted to the empire, Neuberg as too young,
Condé as too old, to command their armies with vigour. The times,
he said, required a prince who was well acquainted alike with
them and with their military system. He was here interrupted with
loud shouts of “A Piast!” a sound which soon collected round the
speaker all the surging masses of the Pospolite. The palatine
continued, “Among ourselves is a man whose sacrifices for his
country have caused him to be everywhere considered the first
of the sons of Poland. In placing him at our head we shall do
no more than consecrate his own glory; fortunate to be able to
honour by one title the more the remainder of a life, of which
every day has been dedicated to the republic. We know that such
a king will maintain our nation in the rank which it occupies in
the world. Such a man as he is will never make himself a vassal
of the infidel. Poles, if we are deliberating here in peace on
the election of a king, if the most illustrious dynasties are
courting our suffrages, if our liberty remains secure, if even
we have a country left to us, to whom do we owe it? Remember the
marvels of Slobodyszcza, of Podhaic, of Kalusz, above all, of
Kotzim, and take for your king John Sobieski!”[58]

A tempest of applause followed this speech, and as it subsided
the voice of one of the castellans was heard calling upon the
Poles to elect that man whom the Turks would be most anxious to
exclude. Then from the midst of the host rose loud shouts of
“Long live King John Sobieski!” and thirteen palatinates at once
took up the cry. The regular soldiers pressed forward towards
the szopa, exclaiming, “We will all perish together, or have for
our king John Sobieski!” It was already late in the evening, but
the Polish nobility crowded round the interrex, and besought him
to take the votes. ♦He postpones the voting.♦ One voice alone
was raised against the proposition; it was that of Sobieski. He
firmly declared that he could not accept the crown if it was
offered at the fall of night, and in a manner so sudden that no
one could have time to recollect himself. “If,” said he, “there
is no other protest against the election being made this night, I
shall oppose my veto.” This disinterested advice was unwillingly
followed, and Sobieski left the plain to encounter the reproaches
of his wife.

Several writers--principally the later Polish historians, who
treat him with marked disfavour--endeavour to detect in his
conduct throughout the proceedings the signs of crafty intrigue.
♦And shows his fair dealing.♦ Yet by this last step he allowed
his enemies time to combine against him, and gave the queen’s
party a fair opportunity of reviving their scattered energies.
But such generosity is often the best policy. The succeeding
night and day (May 20th) were spent in a general effort to secure
unanimity; and the riches and influence of his brother-in-law,
Radziwill, were of much service to Sobieski in the Lithuanian
camp. But his own popularity was still more effectual. It had
ever been the privilege of the Grand General of Poland to quarter
his army where he pleased, and pay nothing for their maintenance.
Bribes had formerly been freely taken from those districts that
desired exemption,[59] but Sobieski, unwilling to exercise such
tyranny, had always quartered his army on the frontiers. This
was now remembered with gratitude. ♦His offers to the republic.♦
His promises to the republic also became the topic of admiring
conversation. He engaged to pay the pension to the queen dowager,
to redeem the crown jewels, to found a military school for the
young nobility, to build two fortresses wherever the Diet should
appoint, and to furnish the regular army with six months’ pay.
Early in the day two of the family of Paz came to register their
opposition with the interrex, but before night fell they had been
persuaded to forego it. ♦Proclamation of Sobieski.♦ The next
morning Sobieski was proclaimed king amid the acclamations of
both Principalities, and took the name of John III. The same day
a vast crowd attended him to the cathedral of St. John to return
thanks for his election.

♦Opinion of Europe.♦ Europe in general was less astonished at
his elevation than Poland. At Constantinople and at Vienna alone
the news was received with disfavour. Köprili saw less chance of
recovering his conquests; and the emperor was bitterly mortified
to see upon the throne one who had always belonged to the faction
of France. Poland was daily becoming of greater importance in
the struggle between Louis and Leopold. When the republic was
bleeding from the shocks of her barbarous neighbours, and from
a succession of internal troubles, it mattered little to these
great potentates who filled the throne; but now that she had
proved herself strong enough to withstand the dreaded Turk, and
wise enough to offer the crown to her victorious general, she
was looked upon with a respect to which she had hitherto been a
stranger. This was fully appreciated at the Papal Court. Clement
X., besides his benediction, sent assurances of friendship to
the new king; and Oliva, the general of the Jesuits, wrote his
joyful congratulations to “the pillar of the republic and the
avenger of Christendom.” It is difficult to discover how far
the court of France had a hand in his election. Its ambassador,
Forbin-Janson, bishop of Marseilles, arrived somewhat late (May
8th), and certainly brought instructions to support the Duke
of Neuberg. But he probably discovered ere long which way the
tide was setting, and, adapting himself to circumstances with a
Frenchman’s ready wit, he caused it to be supposed that he had
used his influence in favour of Sobieski. Louis XIV. followed the
same course; and in an official note of the same summer claimed
this election as one more instance of the universal triumph of
his policy.

♦Schemes of the king’s enemies.♦ The machinations of the enemies
of Sobieski did not cease with the withdrawal of their veto.
Their first move was to give notice of a law which should oblige
him to divorce his wife and marry the queen dowager. But on this
point the king was firm. “I have not yet finally promised,” said
he, “to accept the royal functions. If this is the price of your
sceptre, you need not offer it.” The proposal was soon dropped;
and Eleanor, after receiving a visit from the king, retired to
Thorn, whence she still exercised a baneful influence upon the
course of affairs. Four years later (1678) she gave her hand to
her old suitor, the Prince of Lorraine.

Whilst the Diet was drawing up the _pacta conventa_,
Sobieski discovered from an examination of his revenues that
he could not fulfil his promise of paying the army for six
months. Without delay he frankly owned his inability; and his
opponents made this a pretext for inserting in the contract
new restrictions on the military authority of the king. They
also wished to bind him to an eternal alliance with the court
of Vienna. It was soon known that the king would not yield to
these terms; and several stormy scenes took place in the Diet.
At length the obnoxious articles were struck out; and on the 5th
June the king received the instrument of his election from the
hands of the interrex.

There now remained only the ceremony of coronation--which was
a necessary prelude to the exercise of the royal functions.
♦Danger from the Turks.♦ But the steady advance of the Turks grew
daily more disquieting. Caplan Pacha had rallied the remnants
of the defeated force, and the Sultan was already marching with
a great army through Bulgaria. John saw that the delay would be
dangerous, and had the courage to disappoint the queen[60] and
the whole court by deferring the ceremony. He told the Senate
that at such a time a helmet became his forehead better than a
diadem. “I know well,” said he, “that I have been elected, not to
represent the republic, but to fight for her. I will first fulfil
my mission.” Touched by his magnanimity, the Diet resolved to
place in his hands at once all the powers of a king.

♦They invade the Ukraine.♦ Meantime the Turks, accompanied by
the Tartars, had appeared in great force before the camp at
Kotzim. The Polish commander, terrified at their numbers, soon
surrendered, and the whole garrison was put to the sword. But
instead of advancing into the heart of Poland, Köprili turned to
the right into the Ukraine, where the Muscovites, who also laid
claim to that territory, now lined the Borysthenes with 100,000
men. Hearing that he was occupied in besieging small places
in the Ukraine, John promised to render a good account of him
before the close of the campaign. He kept his word. ♦Campaign of
1674.♦ While the Turks drove the Muscovites beyond the river,
he suddenly appeared in Podolia and besieged Bar. The Sultan,
who was distracted by news of intrigues at his capital and the
advance of the Sophy upon Babylon, suddenly broke up his camp,
and made for Silistria. The Tartars disappeared at the sound of
“the Polish hurricane,” as they called Sobieski; and John was
left to deal with the hapless country which had but just suffered
from the Ottoman invasion. ♦John winters in the Ukraine.♦ He
could see no mode of protecting its peasants from the yoke of
the nobility but to place his army in winter quarters in the
neighbourhood, and to teach the cavalry by his own example what
clemency and what self-sacrifice they ought to show towards a
subject people. Resistance was only to be expected; for his
haughty hussars had never before passed a winter away from their
estates. But when they saw their king take up his abode in the
miserable town of Braclaw, where the scarcity of forage increased
the hardships of the season, the Polish cavalry submitted without
a murmur.

♦The Lithuanians desert him.♦ Not so, however, did the
Lithuanians. The king had assigned to Paz the town of Bar, the
most comfortable post on the frontiers. Yet that general did
not approve of the innovation, and taking the law into his own
hands marched home with his army. This defection was a great blow
to the king. He had begun to invest Kaminiec, and had opened
negotiations for an alliance with Muscovy. He now saw himself
obliged to narrow his plans, and to confine himself to the
defensive. The desertion of Paz aroused the strongest indignation
in Poland, and he was forced to ask the king’s pardon; but he
could not now repair the mischief. His disbanded troops were
amusing themselves with pillaging their own country,[61] and
there was no chance at present of rallying them round their
standards.

♦Campaign of 1675.♦ The winter passed without any important
success; and early in April another large Turkish army, commanded
by Ibrahim Pacha,[62] nicknamed “Schischman” from his enormous
bulk, advanced into Volhynia. John hastily quitted the Ukraine
and disposed his small forces for the defence of Russia in a
vast arc, of which Leopol was the centre. So completely was
he outnumbered that his only chance of success seemed to lie
in procuring allies. He continued to treat with the Czar, and
received at Leopol with ostentatious pomp an ambassador from the
Sophy of Persia; but he could hope little from the latter, except
the chance of terrifying the Sultan by a supposed coalition with
his Asiatic enemy.

♦Lethargy of the Poles.♦ Meanwhile Ibrahim had copied the fault
of the preceding year by wasting time in small sieges, and it
was not till he received a threatening message from Köprili that
he began to advance upon the Polish force covering Leopol, which
hardly amounted to 15,000 men. No exertions on the part of the
king could awaken Poland to a sense of its danger. Servitude had
numbed the senses of the peasants, and the nobles were wearied
with the length of the war. Ibrahim seemed unwilling to trust his
fortune against that of Sobieski. Sitting down before Trembowla,
a strong fortress in Podolia, he sent on the Tartar Noureddin
with 40,000 men “to bring the king before him dead or alive.”

♦Battle of Leopol.♦ It was late in August when this
detachment[63]--the flower of the Turkish army--arrived at
Leopol, and began to burn the suburbs. The Poles besought the
king to retire, and not risk his life in so deadly a combat.
“You would despise me,” said he, “if I were to follow your
advice.” The ground in the vicinity was undulating and covered
with vineyards, and John carefully made his dispositions in
order to conceal from the enemy the smallness of his force. He
planted several hills, which he could not occupy, with the spare
lances of his hussars, and concealed squadrons in the valleys
near the point of attack. Then, on the 24th of August, amidst
a storm of snow and hail which beat in the faces of the enemy,
he suddenly charged the infidels at the head of 5,000 cavalry,
repeating thrice the name of Jesus. The impetuous bravery of the
Poles spread terror in the Turkish ranks, and before nightfall
the whole force, though at least eight times the number of their
assailants, had fled in disorder. The storm was so unusual
for the time of year that contemporary memoirs speak of it as
miraculous; and it appears that this battle, more than any other,
contributed to cause the superstitious fear with which the
Turkish troops subsequently regarded John Sobieski.

♦Siege of Trembowla.♦ Ibrahim was dismayed at the king’s success.
He had captured the position of Podhaic, but he could not reduce
the garrison of Trembowla, commanded by Chrasonowski, a man
of determined courage. He now redoubled his assault upon that
place, which must have fallen but for the arrival of John with
the Polish army. The king posted his troops to advantage and
prepared for the attack; but during the night (Oct. 6th) Ibrahim
intercepted a letter to the besieged, which informed him that
the king in person was at the head of the Poles. ♦Retreat of
the Turks.♦ He at once raised the siege, and without striking
a blow retreated precipitately to Kaminiec, and thence across
the Danube. John would have pursued him beyond the outskirts of
Podolia, but the Polish vanguard, dreading a winter’s campaign in
the enemy’s country, set fire to the bridges, and compelled their
king to suspend his march.

♦Return of the king.♦ The whole country clamoured for his
return, and the Diet was impatient to return thanks to its
deliverer. The Vice-chancellor declared in the Senate that the
king moved like a tortoise towards the throne, but like an
eagle towards the enemies of the republic. He was now ready to
gratify the general wish, and returning to Zolkiew received a
number of foreign ambassadors sent to congratulate him upon his
election,--among them Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester,[64]
whom Dr. South was attending as domestic chaplain. The French
ambassador solicited John’s alliance against Brandenburg and the
empire, and held out hopes of persuading the Turks to make peace.
But the king deferred all fresh engagements for the present; his
grand aim in life was to save Poland from the Ottoman grasp.

Cracow was, as usual, the scene of the coronation, which was
fixed for the 2nd of February (1676). ♦Burial of the two last
kings.♦ Two days earlier, according to the Polish custom, John
followed to the grave the body of Michael, and the interest of
the ceremony was deepened on this occasion by the obsequies of
Casimir. The ex-king had died three years before, of grief, it
was said, at the fall of Kaminiec.[65] The reigns of the two
deceased kings, so fruitful in misfortunes to Poland, comprised
the whole of Sobieski’s wonderful career, and it was fitting
that their royal mourner should be he to whose prowess they were
chiefly indebted for retaining the crown. ♦Coronation.♦ The
coronation took place amid general rejoicings, broken only by a
few murmurs when the crown was set upon the queen’s head. It was
not long before she showed her unfitness to wear it.

♦Diet of 1676.♦ Two days later (February 4th) the Diet met, and
was conspicuous for its loyal enthusiasm. The king was entreated
not to lay down the office of Grand General, but he wisely
refused a privilege so invidious, and conferred the post upon
his old enemy, Demetrius Wiesnowiesçki. He displayed the same
generous spirit in his other appointments, offering the primacy
to Olzowski, the favourite of Eleanor, and the Grand Marshalate
to Lubomirski, son of his old rival. The brave Jablonowski
was rewarded with the post of Second General. His elevation
caused some trouble. The Diet proposed to make these dignities
triennial, which, in the present reign at least, would have been
a salutary enhancement of the royal power; but the queen, out of
gratitude to Jablonowski, worked hard in secret to defeat the
proposal. The king, though he favoured it at heart, appeared
neutral; and the project fell through.

John availed himself of the favourable temper of the Diet
to take exceptional measures for the national defence. He
proposed a capitation subsidy upon all alike, clergy as well as
laity, and strongly urged the necessity of forming a permanent
infantry. Hitherto this branch of the service had been fixed
at one-third of the regular army (16,000), but it had never
reached this standard, and being composed only of the peasants
and poorer nobles, commanded by foreign officers, its equipment
was disgracefully inefficient.[66] The Diet voted that the army
should be raised to 73,000 men, thus augmenting it by 25,000,[67]
and that of these 35,000 should be infantry. No king had ever
obtained such concessions from the nobility, but they were not
granted without a violent opposition. The old expedient was tried
of drawing out the Diet, but John defeated it by submitting to
a continuous sitting, and presiding upon the throne for forty
consecutive hours. He was able to announce that the Great Elector
had promised him succours, and that he hoped for an alliance with
Muscovy. The Diet did not rise before paying him the unusual
compliment of a decree that all the starosties which he had held
should remain hereditary in his family.[68]

♦The king fails to levy troops.♦ Unfortunately their good
resolutions were not carried into effect. Although the Dietines
ratified their proceedings, it was beyond the king’s power
to overcome the inertness and lethargy of the nobility. The
patriotic spirit died out at once when the magic of his personal
influence was withdrawn. Seizing upon a rumour which was
industriously raised by Austria, that the king was treating
in secret with the Turks and would use the money for his own
purposes, they refused to pay the subsidy, and threw every
obstacle in his way. John hastily assembled at Leopol those
troops which had not been disbanded; but, although their number
is variously stated, some even placing it as low as 10,000, it
probably did not amount to one-half of the force that the Diet
had decreed.

♦Armament of the Turks.♦ Meanwhile, Köprili had not been idle.
He assembled an army of 100,000 Turks, to be accompanied by a
vast host of Tartars. But his aim was more pacific than in the
former campaigns. He was beset by the proffered mediation of the
European powers, especially of Louis XIV., who wished to evade
his promise of sending armed assistance to Poland. Moreover, the
condition of Asiatic Turkey distracted his attention; his allies,
the Cossacks and the Tartars, inspired him with distrust; and he
felt that his fortune was outshone by the star of John Sobieski.
The name of the Polish hero was such a terror in the Ottoman
ranks that threats alone could induce many of the officers to
serve against him. Köprili looked out anxiously for a competent
general. He chose Ibrahim, Pacha of Damascus, called “Shaitan”
(Satan), from his combined bravery and cunning, and gave him
instructions to procure an honourable peace.

♦Invasion of Galicia.♦ Ibrahim secretly hoped to do more than
this, for he was confident that he could drive the king to
extremities. He pushed on at once into Galicia and crossed the
Dniester, expecting that John would attack him; but finding
that the king lay inactive at Zurawno, a small town on the left
bank, he advanced against him without delay. John called in
his squadrons of horse, which had been harassing the Tartars,
and prepared to improve his position. It had been chosen with
admirable judgment. He lay with the Dniester and the mountains
behind it covering his rear, while his left rested on the town
of Zurawno, and his right was protected by woods and marshes. In
front of his lines ran a rapid torrent, called the Swiczza, which
was easily fordable, and offered facilities for the construction
of entrenchments. On this task John employed his whole army, and
collected all the provisions within reach. When the seraskier
appeared on the heights in his front, he left his lines and
offered him battle (September 25th); but this was declined, for
all the Turkish troops had not yet come up. ♦Siege of Zurawno.♦
Ibrahim, when he had assembled them, formed them into a vast arc,
including the town of Zurawno, the Polish army, and the wood on
its right, with each of his wings resting on the river. He then
commenced a regular siege. His artillery was splendidly handled;
and his miners rapidly approached the Polish entrenchments.
John at once employed counter-mines, but the experience of the
Turks in Candia gave them a vast superiority. The king was
anxious to bring on a general action, and in a skirmish on the
29th of September the Poles had the advantage, but they lost
heavily. John’s situation was becoming desperate; the Tartars
who commanded the river prevented the arrival of provisions by
that route; and the Turkish artillery made frightful havoc in his
ranks.

♦Proposals of peace.♦ The liveliest alarm prevailed in Poland.
The Senate called out the Pospolite and placed Prince Radziwill
at its head; but the assembling of such a body was necessarily
slow. Meantime another engagement took place at Zurawno (October
8th), in which 2,000 Turks were slain; but John failed to break
through the enemy’s lines, and was once nearly surrounded and
cut off from his men by a body of janissaries. When however the
siege had lasted nearly twenty days, the Tartan khan, whose
dominion was menaced by the Muscovites,[69] pressed Ibrahim to
conclude a peace. The Seraskier knew the straits to which the
Poles were reduced, and he therefore sent an envoy to propose the
ratification of the treaty of Buczacz and an offensive alliance
against Muscovy. ♦Refused by the king.♦ John replied shortly that
he would hang the next man who brought him such a message. The
bombardment recommenced, and the soldiers murmured against their
king’s obstinacy. Paz repaired to the royal tent and announced
his intention to desert. “Desert who will,” cried John, “the
Turks shall not reach the heart of the republic without passing
over my corpse.” He then rode down the ranks, and reminding the
soldiers that he had extricated them from many a worse plight, he
gaily asked them if his head were enfeebled by the weight of a
crown. Yet he passed the night in the gravest anxiety, and when
morning broke (October 14th) he quitted his lines and drew up his
whole force in order of battle.

♦Ibrahim proposes fairer terms.♦ The Turks were astounded; and
the Tartars cried out that there was magic in his boldness. Brave
though he was, Ibrahim dared not face the chances of a defeat. He
knew that the Pospolite was approaching; he suspected that the
Tartars had been bought over; and he saw winter rapidly closing
in. Above all, he remembered that his instructions were pacific,
and that a serious reverse might cost him his head. ♦Peace of
Zurawno.♦ Before the armies engaged, he proposed a peace upon
honourable terms. No mention was now made of tribute. The Porte
was to retain only Kaminiec and a third of the Ukraine; the
question of Podolia was referred to a subsequent conference;
each army was to restore its prisoners of war. It is said that
Sobieski, with the sentiments of a Christian knight, inserted
an article to provide for the establishment of a Latin guard at
the Holy Sepulchre.[70] After witnessing the release of 15,000
captives, and the departure of the Turks (October 16th), John
retraced his steps to Zolkiew. He soon encountered the Pospolite,
which was advancing to his relief, and the two armies celebrated
the conclusion of peace with a grand flourish of trumpets.

♦Great services of the king.♦ Though satisfactory, the terms
were not glorious; but that they should have been obtained at all
by a handful of men in the direst extremities was cause enough
for rejoicing. A moral triumph like this, following so close upon
a crisis so dreadful, carries with it an air of romance. Yet,
making every allowance for good fortune and the earnest mediation
of his allies, we must regard it as due in the first instance
to the potency of the name of Sobieski. With an insignificant
force at his back he had conducted to a favourable issue five
successive campaigns against the Turks--four of them on Polish
ground--and had previously many times repulsed the hordes of
Tartars which they had poured into the country. By thus foiling
the aggression of the Turks when at the height of their power
John III. had rendered a signal service to Europe.

♦Death of Köprili.♦ The minister whose vast designs he had
thwarted was now upon his death-bed. Seven days after the peace
of Zurawno (October 23rd), Köprili expired at Constantinople. Had
it not been for Sobieski this able vizier would have extended
the dependencies of Turkey from the Black Sea to the Baltic, and
would have found a golden opportunity for his attack upon the
empire. His successor Mustapha, called “Kara,” or “the Black,”
was a man of a different calibre. He owed his advancement to
the intrigues of the seraglio; he had married a daughter of the
Sultan and possessed great influence over his master; and he
inherited the ambitious dreams of Köprili without his ability to
realise them.

♦Enthusiasm of Europe.♦ All Europe, with the exception perhaps
of Austria, rejoiced at the peace of Zurawno. Madame de Sevigné,
writing on the 18th of November, 1676, expresses the general
admiration for the hero of Poland;[71] and Condé sent a special
messenger to congratulate his friend. Louis XIV. eagerly sought
his alliance. He commissioned his ambassador in Poland, the
Marquis of Bethune, brother-in-law of the king, to invest him
with the order of the Holy Ghost. John imprudently accepted the
honour, and thus, in spite of the enthusiasm with which he had
been received, excited general murmurs. He was accused of wearing
the livery of France, and binding the republic to follow her
interests. In the Diet which assembled the next year (January,
1677,) his opponents were clamorous. They complained that,
besides part of the Ukraine, he had given up Kaminiec, the key
of the realm; and that instead of striving to recover them, he
was meditating war against Brandenburg and Austria. They also
accused him of aiming at absolute power by the secret help of
the French monarch. The majority of the Diet, however, did not
forget the dangers from which they had been rescued; and Gninski,
palatine of Kulm, was sent to Constantinople to ratify the peace
of Zurawno.

♦He supports the designs of France.♦ No notice was taken of the
other charges; yet John was undoubtedly conniving at the designs
of France. Louis XIV. had promised assistance to the insurgents
in Hungary against the emperor, and was encouraging Sweden to
attack the Great Elector. It is said that he gained over Sobieski
by the promise of ducal Prussia and a larger frontier on the
Baltic. At any rate the Marquis of Bethune was allowed to raise
troops destined for Hungary in the starosties of the king,
while secret permission was given to the Swedes to pass through
Courland to attack the Elector.[72] Frederic William naturally
resented the attitude of Poland, and in revenge fomented some
disturbances which had arisen in Dantzic.

This prosperous centre of commerce enjoyed, as a Hanse town, a
large share of independence. Though belonging to the republic of
Poland, it was governed by its own magistrates and its own laws.
♦Disturbances in Dantzic,♦ A religious struggle had broken out
between the magistrates, who were Calvinists, and the people, who
were headed by an eloquent Lutheran preacher. ♦Quieted by the
king.♦ John at once visited the city and mediated between the
contending parties (September, 1677), and the unusual spectacle
was presented of a Catholic acting as arbiter in a Protestant
dispute. His moderation won all hearts, and tranquillity was
soon restored. The astronomer Hevelius, who was one of the chief
citizens, entertained the king in his house, and entitled his
newly-found constellation, “Scutum Sobieski.”[73]

♦Activity of the Turks.♦ John was recalled from Dantzic by the
serious intelligence that the new Grand Vizier was placing
every obstacle in the way of the conclusion of peace. He kept
the Polish envoy for months at the gates of Constantinople; and
when at length he gave him an audience, his tone was haughty
and unconciliatory. The Austrian court, fearing for itself, had
done its utmost to persuade the Porte that the peace of Zurawno
was disgraceful to Turkey, and Mustapha, who longed for military
glory, encouraged the idea. His first blow, however, was to fall
on Muscovy. The Czar Feodor hastened to conclude the treaty with
Poland, which had long been pending, but he could look for no
assistance from the republic. He was worsted in the campaign
which followed, but the vizier, disgusted at the rigour of the
climate, looked out for a more alluring prey. His first thought
was to reopen the war with Poland; and he announced that he
should keep her envoy as a hostage until Podolia was ceded to the
Porte (September, 1678).

♦Coldness of John towards France.♦John now saw clearly that
the danger from Turkey was still pressing. He therefore at
once withdrew his support from the French designs in the west,
and prepared to confront his old enemy. ♦Reasons.♦ This change
in his policy is reasonable enough. He saw that the Hungarian
insurgents would probably call in the Porte, and in that case
his natural ally would be Austria, while from France he could
expect no material help. His judgment was most sagacious; but it
was not uninfluenced by personal reasons. He was offended at the
pride of the French king, who had refused him on his accession
the coveted title of “Majesty,” and had lately treated his queen
with some contempt. Immediately after her coronation, his queen
had set out for France to take the waters of Bourbon,[74] and to
display her dignity in her native country; but on her way she
encountered the French ambassador, who delicately hinted that his
master could not receive an elective queen with full honours. The
“Grand Monarque” could not stoop to receive on equal terms the
daughter of the captain of his brother’s Swiss Guards. The queen
retraced her steps in great indignation, which subsequent events
only tended to increase. Through her husband she begged a dukedom
for her father, the Marquis d’Arquien, but Louis, though his
language was fair, deferred compliance.[75] Moreover, John could
not but regard with disgust the scarcely concealed efforts of
France to set the Turks in motion against the house of Austria.
The king himself had throughout his life distrusted Austria and
counteracted her influence in Poland, but his chivalrous spirit
would have revolted from bringing the infidel against her. He now
perceived that it was his policy to make common cause with her.

♦His designs upon Kaminiec.♦ He was anxious to strike the first
blow against the Turks by surprising Kaminiec, which was poorly
guarded; but for this the consent of the Diet was necessary. He
had to publish his universals[76] to the Dietines describing his
projects, and to debate the question in the Diet when assembled.
This year (1679) it was convened at Grodno, in Lithuania, and so
stormy was the session that it was four months before the king’s
proposal passed. The Turks were thus enabled to strengthen and
re-victual the town at their leisure; and nothing was left to the
king but to send ambassadors to the European courts to propose a
general league against the Sultan.

♦Arming of the Turks.♦ A vast armament was in preparation at
Constantinople, and no one in Europe knew against whom it would
first be directed. Troops were daily arriving from the interior
of Asia, and Greece was made subject to a searching levy. It was
plainly time for the European powers to show themselves united
against the common enemy, but there was little prospect of such a
combination. Louis had lately concluded a peace with the Emperor
at Nimeguen (1679), but it was scarcely more than a suspension of
hostilities.

♦Polish Embassies in Europe.♦ The Polish ambassador, Radziwill,
had no success at the court of Vienna. He could not persuade
Leopold that he was in greater danger than Poland. But his
proposals were not merely defensive. He urged the formation
of a league, “which should hurl back the monster into his
native deserts, and revive from its ruins the ancient empire of
Byzantium.”[77] But when he arrived at Rome (July, 1680) he found
the Pope very favourably disposed towards a crusade. The chair
was now filled by Innocent XI., an Austrian by birth, who feared
that Vienna was the object of attack, and saw at once that Italy
must stand or fall with it. He had been formerly Papal Nuncio in
Poland, and in that capacity had bestowed his blessing on the
marriage of Sobieski. He now promised his hearty aid to the king,
whom he styled, “The invincible lieutenant of the God of armies,
that brazen wall against which all the efforts of the barbarians
have been dashed in pieces.” He agreed forthwith to furnish a
large subsidy.

♦Alliance with the Pope.♦ This close alliance with the Pope
widened the breach between Sobieski and the court of France.
There could be no peace between such haughty characters as
Innocent XI. and Louis XIV., and they were often at open enmity
about the Gallican clergy. Louis hated the Pope above all
things for his sympathy with the Austrian court. He now sought
to counteract his influence by sending as ambassador to Warsaw
Forbin-Janson, at this time bishop of Beauvais, who was to be
assisted by Vitry, a man of great resource.

♦Diet of 1681.♦ When the king assembled the next Diet at Warsaw
(Jan. 1681) he found the French party for the first time arrayed
against him. He had to report that his embassies had met with
complete success only at Rome, but that Savoy and Portugal had
sent him their good wishes. The majority of the Diet supported
him in his schemes against the Porte; but French intrigue
protracted the session for months, and finally dissolved it by
the veto on a frivolous pretext. Indignant at these proceedings,
Innocent XI., during his lifetime, withheld from Forbin-Janson
the Cardinal’s hat, which had been promised him at the accession
of Sobieski. ♦Peace with Turkey.♦ Fortunately, however, the Grand
Vizier suddenly assumed a peaceful attitude towards Poland, and
sent an envoy with conditions which she could honourably accept.
Mustapha was evidently bent on some more vast design; but though
he studiously concealed its nature, John seems to have divined it
from the first.

♦1681-2.♦ He spent the two succeeding years in strengthening and
disciplining his army, and in those peaceful employments to which
he was so much attached. At a wild spot, six miles from Warsaw,
he constructed his palace of Willanow, and introduced on his
estate the Dutch system of farming. For a time all the clamours
of faction were hushed; but it was only the calm which heralds
the approaching storm.

♦Designs of Louis XIV.♦ Louis XIV. had never abandoned his
encroachments upon the empire. At the end of 1681 he availed
himself of a legal fiction, created by his own “Chambers of
Reunion,” to occupy Strasburg, Casale, and other important
towns on the imperial frontier. The Diet of Ratisbon vehemently
protested against this spoliation, but in vain. They did not dare
to provoke him to open war; for it was known that his envoys were
strongly urging the Turks to invade Austria. His plan seems to
have been to acquire the glory of saving the Empire after the
fall of its capital, and to exact in return for his services
large territorial concessions. His ambition was to have the
Dauphin proclaimed king of the Romans.

♦The Turks protect Hungary.♦ At length his policy seemed on
the point of success. Kara Mustapha threw off the mask (1682),
and declaring Hungary tributary to the Sultan, announced his
intention of protecting the new province. Count Emeric Tekeli,
who had ably headed its revolt since 1678, was invested with
the caphtan as hospodar. ♦Schemes of Leopold.♦ Leopold vainly
endeavoured, by his minister Caprara, to obtain a renewal of the
peace made with the Turks in 1664; but the influence of France in
the divan was too strong for him. He then turned to the Diet at
Ratisbon;[78] but its counsels were divided, the western electors
being in favour of war with France. His only hope seemed to be an
alliance with Poland, yet his relations with the king were not
cordial, and he had lately refused his offer of a league. He made
the attempt, however, and succeeded beyond his hopes. John was
convinced that the peace which he had concluded with the Turks
was merely temporary. It therefore seemed his duty to strike at
once while he could be sure of an ally. Such a course was in
keeping with his life-long purpose to curb the Ottoman power. It
also agreed well with the hatred which his queen had conceived
against the court of France, and the promise of an archduchess
for his son was not to be despised.

♦Offers of France to the king.♦ Louis left no stone unturned
to divert him from his resolution. He tempted him with the
provinces of Silesia and Hungary, to become the property not of
the republic but of the king and his heirs, if he would join him
against the Empire; ♦French conspiracy against him.♦ and finding
him proof against his offers he began a conspiracy to dethrone
him. On the assembling of the next Diet (January 27th, 1683)
the heat of parties was tremendous. When Leopold’s ambassador,
the Count of Walstein, and Palaviccini, the Papal Nuncio, had
stated their proposals of alliance, the deputies in the pay of
France put in their protest. Besides placing every obstacle in
the way of public business, they appealed to the outside public.
Pamphlets appeared daily in which the policy of the king was
warmly condemned. The selfish cabinet of Austria, which had
refused to save Poland, was declared her eternal enemy, and the
nobles were warned that the king could not ally himself with such
a court without imbibing its despotic views.

♦Discovered by the king.♦ The opposition gathered strength,
and the consequences might have been serious had not the king
fortunately intercepted some letters of the French ambassador,
which disclosed the details of his plot (March). He read these
letters in full Diet, and their contents excited the utmost
indignation. The ambassador boasted that through Morstyn, the
Grand Treasurer, he knew all the secrets of the cabinet, that he
had bought over numbers of the principal nobles, whose names he
gave, and that the nation was so venal that he felt certain of
destroying the league. He added that the king had rejected all
his offers, but that he trusted to make him powerless. Among the
nobles mentioned were Jablonowski, now Grand General of Poland,
and Sapieha, who, since the death of Michael Paz, had been Grand
General of Lithuania. The latter belonged to a family upon which
the king had showered his favours.

♦His tact.♦ John used this information with wonderful tact. He
at once declared that the ambassador, to show his zeal to his
master, had evidently slandered the grandees; Morstyn alone,
whose guilt was proved by a letter in his own hand, deserved
the punishment of treason. The king concluded by saying that he
trusted the Diet would help him to show the French king that the
Polish nation was not altogether venal. The speech was received
with shouts of applause, and the suspected nobles were now
foremost in supporting the king. A similar change took place
in the nation, and the French ambassador found it unsafe to go
abroad without an escort. The Grand Treasurer would have been
brought to trial if he had not escaped to France.

♦Alliance with the empire.♦ The immediate result of this
discovery was the conclusion of an alliance, offensive and
defensive, with Austria (March 31st). Leopold bound himself to
bring 60,000 men into the field; the republic was to furnish
40,000. There was an express stipulation that neither party
should apply to the Pope for leave to break his oaths. The Papal
Nuncio procured the addition of a clause, by which John bound
himself to command his troops in person.[79] Leopold in return
conceded to him that title of “Majesty” which he had so long
withheld.

♦Exertions of Sobieski.♦ This treaty was a serious blow to the
policy of Louis XIV. Forbin-Janson, who soon quitted Poland in
disgust, comforted his master by the assurance that John was
far too unwieldy to take the field. The same idea prevailed
throughout Europe, and especially in the Turkish camp. He was
now so stout that he required aid to mount his horse; but he
had not lost one spark of his youthful fire. His army needed
complete reorganisation, and he spent several hours each day in
the field. He did not neglect measures of policy. He proposed to
the Emperor the extension of the league, and confided to him his
favourite scheme of reviving a republic in Greece. By that means
alone, he thought, the Turkish empire could be confined within
bounds. He sent an embassy to the Sophy of Persia, but could not
persuade him to declare war against the Porte.[80] He then tried
to mediate between the Emperor and the insurgents in Hungary, and
succeeded so far as to obtain a promise from Tekeli that Moravia
should be left untouched.[81] Finally he tried to promote a good
understanding between France and Austria, but Louis sullenly
refused his mediation.

♦The Vizier’s forces.♦ The preparations of the Grand Vizier were
now complete, and in the spring he advanced his vast host to
Essek, in Hungary. He had under his standards at least 300,000
combatants[82] and 300 pieces of artillery. He was accompanied
by Selim Gieray, the terrible Tartar khan, and by a crowd of his
nomad horsemen.

♦Rapid advance of the Turks upon Vienna.♦ The Emperor could
scarcely realize the peril in which he stood. He reckoned that
his frontier fortresses would detain the Turks for at least two
campaigns. Fortunately Sobieski, by means of a letter which
his Cossack spies intercepted[83] in Bulgaria, was enabled to
assure him that Vienna would be the first point of attack. This
intelligence was soon put beyond a doubt. The Duke of Lorraine,
general of the Imperial forces, who with scarcely 30,000 men
was covering Upper Hungary, was compelled to retreat. The whole
Turkish army continued to advance by forced marches, leaving the
fortresses in their rear; and Lorraine had barely time to throw
8,000 infantry into Vienna and retreat beyond the Danube, before
50,000 Tartars, the advanced guard of Mustapha, appeared at the
gates (July 9). Leopold had profited by Sobieski’s warning to
demolish the extensive suburbs where the nobility resided, but
the city was wholly unprepared for defence.

♦Panic at Vienna.♦ The night before Lorraine’s arrival the
Emperor himself with his court fled precipitately to Linz,
and thence to Passau. The peasants of the southern plain were
flocking into the city by hundreds, while many of the citizens
followed the Emperor in his flight. ♦Measures for defence.♦
It was left to Lorraine, with the governor, the intrepid
Count Stahremberg, to concert measures of resistance. The
fortifications were hastily repaired, and the counterscarp
protected by thick palisades, but it was doubtful whether they
could stand an assault, owing to the neglect of a long security.
A body of 5,000 citizens was formed to assist the garrison, which
did not amount to 14,000 men. A week later (July 14) the Grand
Vizier occupied the plain, and opened the trenches before the
city.

♦Terror of Europe.♦ Meanwhile all Europe, and especially Italy,
was seized with consternation at the rapid march of the Turks.
The plans of the King of France, who had advanced his army to the
Rhine, were somewhat disconcerted. Finding himself pointed at as
the cause of the invasion of Christendom,[84] he made a show of
magnanimity, and suspended his threatened blow. It is even said
that he offered the Emperor a contingent of 80,000 men, which was
rejected with becoming scorn; but the statement seems improbable.

♦Sobieski urged to hasten his march.♦ The Pope sent pressing
messages to Sobieski to bring his succours before it was too
late. The Emperor also, writing with unwonted deference, begged
him to place himself at the head of the Imperial troops. “However
inferior we are in number,” he says, “your name alone, so
terrible to the enemy, will ensure a victory.” He added that his
troops were waiting at Tuln, fifteen miles north-west of Vienna,
and that at that point a bridge had been constructed over the
Danube.[85] Lorraine, generously forgetting their old rivalry for
the crown of Poland, wrote that he should be proud to serve under
such an hero. His own skill had given some hope to a declining
cause. Assisted by some Polish cavalry, he had captured the
bridge of Presburg from Tekeli, but his force was too small to do
any damage to the besiegers.

♦Siege of Vienna.♦ It is indeed a marvel that Vienna did
not fall almost at once. Within a week of the opening of
the trenches, the besiegers had reached the palisade of the
counterscarp, and, as cannon could not be used for its defence,
many of the garrison lost their lives in a hand-to-hand combat.
On the 7th of August the counterscarp was captured after an
engagement in which both sides suffered great loss. The besieged
especially lost many officers, and the brave governor was
seriously wounded. From this time forward the city must have
succumbed if the Vizier had ordered a general assault. Mustapha
knew this, but he imagined that the booty would be enormous, and
he did not wish it to fall into the hands of his soldiers. He had
pitched his vast pavilion in the gardens of the Emperor’s palace,
called the Favourite, and here he passed his days in the pursuit
of pleasure. His miners advanced steadily, but in other respects
he was inactive.

♦Measures of Sobieski.♦ At the first news of the danger of Vienna
Sobieski hastened to Cracow, where his army was assembling. His
hussars answered his summons with alacrity, but the Lithuanians
were slow to take the field. He had no intention of waiting for
them, although the troops under his orders were scarcely half the
complement of 40,000. He sorely needed funds for their equipment;
but as the Papal subsidies had not arrived,[86] he gave lavishly
from his private treasury. He had not intended to take his
Turkish body-guard; but they begged leave to accompany him, and
offered to give hostages.[87]

♦His rapid march to the Danube.♦ On the 15th of August he quitted
Cracow, accompanied by his son James, and having reviewed his
troops at Tarnowitz, in Silesia (August 18), pushed on for the
Danube. Leaving his main body at the head of 2,000 horse, he
traversed like a whirlwind the plains of Moravia, and arrived at
Tuln on the 2nd of September. The prince who was reported too
infirm to take the field, had covered on horseback 350 miles
in little more than ten days. Finding the bridge unfinished
and scarcely half the Imperial forces assembled, he could not
restrain his impatience. “Does the Emperor take me for an
adventurer?” he exclaimed angrily. “I have left my army to
command his. It is not for myself, but for him I fight.” Three
days later (September 5th) the Polish army under Jablonowski
appeared, and soon afterwards the succours from Bavaria and
Saxony.

♦Forces of the allies.♦ Before the king’s arrival there had been
divisions of opinion among the imperial generals; now all men
cheerfully obeyed his orders. The whole force amounted to 70,000
men, of whom 21,000 were from Austria, 18,000 from Poland, and
31,000 from Bavaria, Saxony, and the Circles. Of these at least
38,000 were cavalry. John had never commanded an army of nearly
this strength, and he was confident of success. He bade the
Imperialists consider not the vast numbers of the enemy but the
incapacity of their general. “Would any of you,” he asked, “have
suffered the construction of this bridge within five leagues of
your camp? The man cannot _fail_ to be beaten.”

♦Exertions of the king.♦ In his letters to the queen, which have
most fortunately been preserved,[88] we can follow the inmost
thoughts of the great commander during these most anxious days.
He twice remarks with evident pleasure that the German troops
obey him better than his own. At the same time he is disgusted
with the trifling squabbles over etiquette which occupy so much
of his time. Even his necessary duties allow him no leisure.
“Continual harangues, my interviews with the Duke of Lorraine
and the other chiefs, innumerable orders to be given, prevent
me not only from writing, but from taking food and rest.”[89]
Yet his unreasonable consort, for whom his devoted fondness
appears in almost every line,[90] complains that he does not read
her letters. “I must complain of you, my dear, my incomparable
Mariette.... Can you say seriously that I do not read your
letters? The fact is that I read each of them three times at
least; first, when they arrive, secondly, as I go to bed, when
at last I am free, and, thirdly, when I set myself to answer
them.... If sometimes I fail to write at length, can you not
explain my haste without the help of injurious suppositions? The
armies of two continents are but a few miles from each other. I
must think of everything; I must provide for the smallest detail.”

♦Passage of the Danube.♦ On the 6th of September the army
crossed the Danube. The splendid equipment of the king’s hussars
attracted universal admiration; and his ill-clad infantry looked
especially mean by contrast. His officers entreated him to allow
it to cross by night, but he would not consent. Whilst one of the
worst regiments was passing over, “Look at this well,” he cried
to the spectators; “it is an invincible body which has sworn
never to be clothed but with the spoils of the enemy.” At these
words the men, who had hung their heads in shame, marched on
erect with cheerful confidence. During the crossing of the bridge
a note arrived from Stahremberg with the simple words, “No more
time to lose.” The miners were already under the Emperor’s city
palace, and numbers of the garrison were dying of dysentery.

♦Ascent of the Kahlemberg.♦ John called a council of war to
decide the route which should be taken. Between him and Vienna
rose the lofty ridge called the Kahlemberg; and it was necessary
either to go round it by the main road, which was flanked by the
Turkish cannon, or to climb direct to the summit. John chose the
latter route; but it proved more difficult than he had supposed.
Three days were consumed in the ascent. All the heavy baggage had
to be left behind, and of the artillery only the Polish light
guns could be dragged up. At length, on the evening of the 11th,
the Polish hussars lighted their fires among the woods which
crowned the heights, and were answered by joyful signals from
the cathedral of St. Stephen. ♦Apprehension of the Turks.♦ The
Turks were struck with consternation. The Grand Vizier, though he
had certain intelligence of the ascent,[91] neglected to oppose
it, partly because he despised the Christian army, and partly
because he wished to take Vienna before their eyes. But he could
not inspire his troops with his own braggart assurance. During
the night John’s prisoners, whom he had set free by design, came
into the camp and spread the news that the king of Poland was
commanding in person. Mustapha loudly expressed his disbelief;
but he could not prevent the spread of a panic. At break of day
he determined to lead the janissaries to a general assault, while
he detached the spahis and auxiliaries to confront the relieving
force.

♦Confidence of Sobieski.♦ From the castle of Leopoldsberg about
sunset Sobieski surveyed the scene with mixed feelings. He saw
that he would have to make his advance over most precipitous and
difficult ground; but his experienced eye was not dismayed either
by the imposing array of the Turkish tents or by the multitude
of their occupants. Writing to the queen the same night he shows
his old confidence: “Humanly speaking, and while putting all our
hope in God, one must believe that a general, who has not thought
of concentrating or entrenching himself, but is encamped as if
we were a hundred miles off, is predestined to be beaten.” He
complains, however, that he had not been warned of the steepness
of the descent, and must change his order of battle. During the
night the noise of the Turkish cannon was such that “we could not
close an eye,” and the wind was so high that “it seemed as if the
Vizier, who is reputed a magician, had unchained against us the
powers of the air.”

♦Advance of the allies.♦ When day dawned on Sunday, the memorable
12th of September, the wind fell, and the heat was most severe.
John attended mass with the Duke of Lorraine in the old church
of Leopoldsberg, and received the sacrament. ♦Their order of
battle.♦ He then mounted his horse, and ordered the advance. The
right wing was occupied by the Poles, under Jablonowski; the
centre by the Germans, under the Prince of Waldeck; the left wing
by the Imperial troops, under the Duke of Lorraine.[92] The king
directed the whole; but his post was in the right wing.

♦Battle of Vienna.♦ The ground in their front was broken by
gullies and rough eminences, and here and there by rude parapets
of earth, which served as the boundaries of the vineyards.
The Turks in vain attempted to defend these positions; they
were driven from point to point by the impetuous hussars, and
the Polish artillery, dexterously handled by Konski, did such
execution that by midday the army had reached the plain. After
an interval of rest the advance was continued, and the villages
of Nussdorf and Heligenstadt were carried by the hussars at the
lance’s point, not without some loss. At five o’clock the order
was given for a halt, and John proposed to rest his wearied
troops before the final struggle.

Meanwhile the Vizier, who had been gallantly repulsed by the
besieged, had hastened to check the retreat of the Turks. He saw
with uneasiness the horse-tails on the Polish lances, and feared
that after all the king might be present. At a conspicuous point
in the lines he caused the hoisting of a red pavilion, which was
surmounted by the standard of the Prophet, and tried to raise the
spirits of his troops by his own cool assurance. Seating himself
under its shade with his two sons and the Tartar khan he ordered
coffee to be served.

The Polish cavalry had advanced so near that John could
detect these movements with his field-glass. Provoked at this
ostentatious contempt, he bade his artillerymen aim exclusively
at the red pavilion, and offered fifty crowns for each successful
volley. He also detached a body of hussars to seize a position
from which they could fire with more effect. The cavalry dashed
forward with the cry of “Sobieski for ever,” and drove the Turks
headlong from the spot. “By Allah,” exclaimed the Tartar khan,
as he heard their shouts, “the king is really among them.” The
Turks had also heard the dreaded name; and all at once a terrible
panic arose throughout the camp.[93] “They are defeated,” cried
Sobieski, as he saw them waver, and ordering a general advance,
he put himself at the head of the Poles with the words, “Non
nobis, non nobis, Domine exercituum, sed nomini tuo da gloriam!”
♦Rout of the Turks.♦ The shock of the charge was tremendous, and
none but the spahis resisted it. These brave horsemen, surrounded
by the rout, stood their ground, but were cut in pieces. The
Vizier, weeping like a child, besought the Khan to save him. “I
know the King of Poland,” answered Selim; “I told you that we
should have to make way before him.”[94] Joining in the flight
they effected their escape, although the Vizier was almost
captured.

Night had now come on, and John was anxious to secure the camp
in case the enemy should return. He therefore discouraged the
pursuit, and forbade pillage on pain of death. ♦The Vizier’s
quarters.♦ He passed the night, like his soldiers, in the open
air, although he took possession of the Vizier’s quarters. In the
morning he inspected this vast bazaar of Eastern luxury, which he
describes as occupying a space “as large as Warsaw or Leopol.”
Mustapha had come, in fact, prepared for a triumph. He is said to
have contemplated creating an empire by making himself emperor
of the French. He had brought every requirement for making
Vienna a Turkish arsenal, and had not omitted the materials for
his mosques.[95] Writing to the queen on September 13th, the
king says: “The Vizier has taken nothing but his horse and the
clothes on his back. He has left me his heir.... His jewels alone
are worth some thousands of ducats.... You cannot say to me, my
heart, as the Tartar women often say to their husbands, ‘You are
not a man, for you have brought me no booty.’... The town could
not have held out more than five days. The imperial palace is
riddled with bullets; those immense bastions, split in pieces and
half falling, look terrible.”

♦Losses of the two armies.♦ The losses of the two armies in
the action have been variously stated. Talenti, whom John sent
to the Pope with what was believed to be the standard of the
Prophet, informed his Holiness that at least 40,000 Turks had
perished.[96] Voltaire, with as little truth, states the number
at 600.[97] It is evident from the letters of the king, which
speak of the slain as making the neighbourhood unhealthy, that
nearly 10,000 must have been slain.[98] The loss of the Poles
alone was estimated at more than 1,000, and the allies probably
lost in proportion.

♦Entry of Sobieski into Vienna.♦ About midday the king entered
Vienna through the breach. He was received with acclamations.
Multitudes thronged his horse, and in spite of the frowns of
their superiors openly compared him with their fugitive monarch.
He entered the church of the Augustine Friars, and, as there was
no priest at hand, he himself chanted the _Te Deum_. Passing
on to the cathedral of St. Stephen, he remained long prostrate
before the altar, while the same ceremony was performed with
greater pomp. Then a discourse was preached to the assembled
crowds from the text--“There was a man sent from God, whose
name was John.” On leaving the building, he could scarcely pass
through the masses of men who pressed upon him, and begged to
kiss his victorious hands. Afterwards he dined in public with
Count Stahremberg, and then returned to his quarters, declaring
with truth that this was the happiest day of his life.

♦Joy of all Europe, excepting the French king.♦ He took an
almost malicious pleasure in writing at once to inform Louis
XIV. of his success. He told him that he felt it his particular
duty to report to the most Christian king “the victory which
had been gained, and the safety of Christianity.” So disgusted
was Louis at the collapse of his plans that he could not trust
himself to answer the letter. The French civil journals, in
noticing the raising of the siege, speak slightingly of the King
of Poland, and try to attribute all the credit to the Count of
Stahremberg.[99] But no one was deceived by these manœuvres.
All Europe resounded with the praises of Sobieski. From every
Catholic pulpit he was eulogised as the bravest defender of
the Church. Filicaia and other Italian poets sang of his glory
in rapturous strains. Innocent XI. received his envoys with
the highest honours, and ordered the standard of the Prophet
to be borne in triumph throughout Italy. Queen Christina, who
was then resident at Rome, after complimenting the Pope, wrote
Sobieski a remarkable letter, in which she declared that she
now felt for the first time the passion of envy; she calls him
emphatically the greatest king in the world, and displays by
other insinuations her hatred for Louis XIV.[100] ♦Ingratitude
of Leopold.♦ It is painful to relate the conduct of the Emperor.
He, who should have been the first to thank and congratulate his
deliverer, was in no hurry to meet him face to face. Entering the
city on the 14th, he contrasted with anger the coolness of his
reception with the enthusiasm shown to the King of Poland; and
it was only when he heard that John was about to continue the
pursuit that he was prevailed on to consent to the interview.
His punctilious scruples as to his demeanour towards an elective
sovereign disgusted his German allies, and the Duke of Lorraine
declared that he ought to receive the king with open arms. At
length it was agreed, on the proposition of Sobieski, that they
should meet on horseback a few paces in front of the Polish army.
♦His interview with Sobieski.♦ Let us hear the king’s own account
to the queen. “I will not draw you the portrait of the Emperor,
for he is well known. He was mounted on a bay horse of Spanish
breed; he had a close coat richly embroidered, a French hat with
a clasp and white and red feathers, a belt mounted with sapphires
and diamonds, and a sword to match. We saluted each other with
politeness; I made him my compliments in a few words of Latin;
he answered in the same tongue in choice terms. Being thus face
to face I presented my son, who approached and saluted him. The
Emperor merely raised his hand to his hat; I was astounded at
it. He did the same with the senators and generals, and even
with his connection, the Palatine of Beltz.[101] To avoid the
scandal and the carping of the public, I addressed a few more
words to the Emperor; after which I turned my horse, we saluted
each other, and I rode back to the camp.” John here evidently
conceals as far as possible the chagrin he felt at the awkward
silence of the Emperor, and his distance towards Prince James,
his prospective son-in-law. Another account says that he sternly
reproved a Palatine, who advanced to kiss the Emperor’s foot,
and that he said significantly as he turned away, “Brother, I am
glad to have done you this small service.”[102] After the Grand
General had shown him the Polish troops, the Emperor returned to
Vienna; and two days later sent a jewelled sword to Prince James,
and explained that his grateful emotions had deprived him of the
power of speech.

♦Shameful treatment of the Poles.♦ But the Emperor’s ingratitude
did not stop here. A day or two after the battle, the Poles (like
the French after the battle of St. Gothard) found it difficult to
obtain forage or provisions, and they were not allowed to bury
even their most illustrious dead in the cemeteries of the city.
The king notices bitterly that, since the arrival of the Emperor,
everyone shunned them as if they had the plague.[103] The Poles
were furious at this studied neglect, and besought John to lead
them back at once to Poland. “Our subalterns regret that we have
succoured the Emperor; they wish now that the proud race had
perished beyond hope of resurrection.”[104]

So seldom had the army served beyond the frontiers, that its
discipline, never strictly enforced, was now scarcely regarded;
and numbers left the ranks and took the nearest road to their
homes. John sympathised with his soldiers, but he had the ardour
of a crusading hero, and he felt himself bound by his oath to
pursue the infidel, and “strike a second decisive blow.”[105]
♦John’s anxiety to follow up the victory.♦ His letter of the 13th
of September to the Marquis of Grana, shows the high hopes with
which his glorious victory had inspired him. He expresses his
belief that the time had come for the collapse of the Sultan’s
power, and urges that further successes in Hungary might produce
revolts in the heart of his empire.[106] John has been most
unjustly accused of finding a Capua in the Vizier’s tents.[107]
The fact is, that during the whole of the campaign, the Poles
were in the van. The king was disgusted at the backwardness of
the imperial court, though his high and simple nature failed to
discern its motive. “It is enough to make one die a thousand
times a day,” he says, “to see so many opportunities slip
away.”[108]

♦Suspicions of the Emperor.♦ The fact was that Leopold shrank
from sending his victorious neighbour into a rebellious province
of his empire. Yet he dared not stop him. His suspicions
were increased when John received overtures from Tekeli, the
Hungarian leader, and attempted to intercede for him. The
Emperor’s coldness had so far alienated his German allies, that
the Elector of Saxony withdrew his troops, and the Elector of
Bavaria threatened to do the same. He did nothing to recognise
the services of the Duke of Lorraine. He coveted the spoil, and
even had the assurance to suggest, through his head groom, that
John should present him with some of the Vizier’s horses. The
gift was made and received as a due. The king also made such
handsome presents to many of the German princes, that he gaily
tells the queen she will have to be content with the buffaloes
and camels.[109] His general distrust of the Austrians was such
that he deposited his part of the spoil with the Jesuits.[110]

♦John advances into Hungary.♦ At length (September 17), weary
of waiting for the Imperial troops, he started for the Danube.
His design was to attack Lower Hungary, which had been a Turkish
province for a hundred and fifty years, and to invest Buda, its
capital. Thither the Vizier had retired to rally the remains
of his army, and was avenging his defeat by the execution of
a crowd of pachas. The Turks could hardly believe that the
Christians would retaliate at once by invading their territory,
and Sobieski’s advance created the utmost alarm. But he was
unhappily delayed at Presburg by a fever[111] which attacked his
troops and produced such distress as to shake his resolution
to proceed. ♦Intrigues of the queen.♦ Another cause of his
chagrin was the scarcely concealed intriguing of the queen among
the troops to force him to return. She tried to persuade him
that she was in constant fear of the troops of Tekeli. In two
admirable letters[112] he tells her the powerful motives which
induce him to continue the campaign. He shows her that the Poles
are crushing their national enemy without the cost of one sou
to the republic, and declares that, since the Christian armies
have elected him their generalissimo, he will remain even if his
countrymen desert him to finish the campaign. “I have devoted my
life,” he says, “to the glory of God and to this holy cause, and
to that I will adhere.”

After a few days his troops were able to resume their march,
and they were joined by the Imperialists on the 2nd of October.
They crossed the second arm of the Danube, and followed its
course on the left bank. The first Turkish fortress in their way
was Strigonia, called by the Hungarians Gran, a place of great
strength on the right bank, communicating by a bridge with the
fortified suburb of Parkan on the opposite side. The vanguard of
the Polish cavalry, always a march in advance of the infantry and
the Imperialists, had descended the hills to reconnoitre this
fort, when suddenly a large Turkish force issued from the works
and appeared in their front (October 7th.) ♦He is defeated at
Parkan.♦ Before the Poles could form in line they had to sustain
a tremendous charge, and were put to flight. The king, who was
close behind with the main body, could not rally the fugitives,
and found himself obliged, with his 4,000 hussars, to charge the
enemy in his turn. His onset was unsuccessful. The Turks opened
their lines to enclose the Poles, and this caused a panic which
ended in a rout. The king and his personal escort strove in vain
to stem the rush of the Turks; they were swept along in the
_mêlée_. The pursuit was hot; and the king, who was one of
the last to turn his horse, was in great danger. A spahi raised
his scimitar to strike him, but was hewn down before his blow
fell. John was hurried along breathless, scarcely able to hold
the reins, and jostled by the mad haste of his flying troops. At
length the Imperialists appeared, and the Turks desisted from the
pursuit. The king lay down upon a bundle of hay, sorely bruised,
but more afflicted in mind than in body. It was the first
defeat he had sustained, and it was embittered at first by the
supposed loss of his son, who however escaped unwounded. When the
Austrians came up, with sorrow in their faces and joy at their
hearts, he raised himself with dignity, and said, “Gentlemen, I
have been well beaten, but I will take my revenge _with_ you
and _for_ you.” His Cossack infantry, who heard that he had
perished, bewailed him as a father; and he was deeply touched by
their devotion.[113] Several historians have asserted that he
brought on this engagement in order to crown himself with glory
before the arrival of his allies; but his letter to the queen
after the battle shows beyond a doubt that his cavalry had orders
not to fight, and that the vanguard were taken unawares.[114]

The Poles hastily buried their dead in order to conceal their
losses, and were so dispirited that the king could scarcely
persuade them to wipe out the defeat. ♦Great victory of Sobieski
at Parkan.♦ Although three days after he says that his body
is “as black as a coal,”[115] his exertions were unremitting
to prepare his army for a grand attack. The Turks, as he had
expected, were elated at their victory. A report spread widely
among them, which even reached the European courts, that the
hero had been slain; and they took a fresh lease of courage.
The Vizier sent them reinforcements; and when, two days later
(October 9th), the Christian army defiled into the plain of
Parkan, they found a large force drawn up to receive them. The
same morning the Turks commenced the attack, and repeatedly
charged the left wing commanded by Jablonowski. They were beaten
back with splendid courage; the steady advance of the king with
the right wing upon the fort of Parkan threw them into confusion;
and when the Christians charged in their turn, the Turks gave
way on all sides. ♦Storming of the fort.♦ The fort was taken by
storm, and no quarter was given;[116] numbers of fugitives were
drowned in the Danube; several pachas were captured, and at least
40,000 Turks perished.

Writing to the queen on the following day, John speaks of
the victory as “even greater than that of Vienna.” ♦Flight
of the Vizier.♦ The Vizier was seized with dismay, and fled
precipitately to Belgrade. His flight enabled the king to
exclaim with pride that now at last, after two hundred years
of slavery, Hungary was delivered from the infidel. He adds,
“This has surpassed my expectation, and I believe that of my
contemporaries.”[117]

♦Capture of Strigonia.♦ John was anxious at once to lay siege to
Buda, which he regarded as the goal of the campaign, but the Duke
of Lorraine persuaded him to begin with Strigonia. This was one
of the strongest fortresses in Hungary, and had been occupied
by the Turks for a hundred and forty years. Yet the place
surrendered in a fortnight, although the garrison was composed of
5,000 janissaries. Well might the Turkish pachas exclaim to the
Poles that their king was raised up by God to be the scourge of
Islam.[118]

John could now no longer resist the eagerness of his nobles to
return to Poland. ♦Return of the Poles.♦ Early in November the
armies separated, and the Poles retraced their steps through
Hungary. Before their departure the king had endeavoured to
mediate between Tekeli and the commissioners of the Emperor, but
the sole favour which he could obtain for the insurgents was the
promise of a general amnesty, and his disinterested efforts only
resulted in increasing Leopold’s suspicions of his motive. ♦His
efforts on behalf of the Hungarians.♦ Yet he could not give up
the attempt; he longed to establish the strong barrier of a free
people against the Turkish advance; and as a last resource he
begged for the help of the Holy See. In his instructions to his
minister at Rome,[119] he claims this favour from the Imperial
Court as his due, and indignantly disowns the unworthy motives
imputed to him. “The sole interest of his Sacred Majesty is to
rally the nations against the pagans. For that end he demands
that the nation which he has re-conquered for Christendom
should be treated after a Christian fashion.” But the Pope was
so closely bound to the policy of Leopold that he cared not to
interfere; and nothing was done to restore the ancient liberties
of Hungary. John was deeply indignant, but his conscience would
not permit him to insist on this concession as the price of his
sworn alliance.

♦Their hostility to his army.♦ His friendly relations with Tekeli
were broken off by the rapine of the Lithuanians, who, on hearing
of the spoils of which their tardiness had deprived them, had
set off in haste towards the south, and were plundering Upper
Hungary. The inhabitants, regarding John as responsible for these
reckless freebooters, and knowing nothing of his efforts in
their behalf, shut themselves up in their towns and treated him
as an enemy. Though he could scarcely obtain provisions for his
troops, he was loth to relinquish his design of quartering them
in Hungary. But the queen had hit on a new method of preventing
him, which was more effective than the murmurs of his men. She
suddenly ceased to answer his letters. “For five weeks,” he
complains, “I really have not known whether there is a Poland in
the world.”[120]

♦Triumphal entry into Cracow.♦ He closed the campaign gloriously
on the anniversary of Kotzim (November 11th), by capturing
Schetzin after a few hours’ siege, and then returned home through
the Carpathian Mountains. The ground was frozen so hard that
the tents could not be pitched, and it was Christmas-eve before
the victorious army, laden with the spoils of the East, entered
Cracow in triumph. A few days later the Grand Vizier received
with resignation his sentence of death from the Sultan, and ere
long the head which had dreamed of the conquest of Europe was
adorning the gates of the seraglio.

♦General results of the campaign.♦ The result of this grand
campaign was to change the course of history. Hitherto, as at
Lepanto and at St. Gothard, the Ottoman arms had never received
more than a temporary check; from henceforward we find the empire
of the Sultan constantly losing ground in Europe. John Sobieski
had recovered in two months more than had been gained in a
hundred years. The chief explanation of this decline is doubtless
internal decay; but the glory of the Polish hero consists in the
singleness of aim which enabled him in a moment of supreme danger
to disregard old enmities, and to fly to the defence of Western
Christendom, then too disunited to defend itself.

♦Advantages to Poland.♦ Poland gained more by this campaign
than she was ready to confess. The Turks had for ever lost the
offensive, and were so much engaged in their conflict with the
Empire, that they could not think of revenging themselves upon
the republic. But they still retained the fortress of Kaminiec;
and until this sore was closed, the danger seemed ever present.
The Cossacks however, from whom that danger had first arisen, now
acknowledged the king’s authority, and falling upon the Tartars
as they returned from Vienna, routed them with immense slaughter.
But the renown procured by the victories of the king was more
advantageous still. Venice and Muscovy besought the honour of
an alliance with Poland; and she never stood higher among the
nations than at this moment.

♦Campaign of 1684.♦ Civil troubles prevented John taking the
field early the next year (1684).[121] In August, however, he
marched into Podolia, and after taking Jaslowicz, approached
the walls of Kaminiec. Since he could not hope to reduce it
by blockade, his only resource was to erect a fort in the
neighbourhood; and this he effected in the face of the enemy, who
dared not risk a battle.

He returned to Zolkiew in November, dissatisfied with the
results of the campaign. ♦Jealousy of John’s generals.♦ At
its outset he had been attended by numbers of distinguished
foreigners, anxious to serve under so great a prince, but he
had found himself enfeebled by the lukewarm support of his two
Grand Generals, Jablonowski and Sapieha. Both were jealous of his
monopolising the glory by commanding in every campaign; but each
of them had ulterior reasons. Jablonowski was the chief of the
faction of Louis XIV., who was straining every nerve to gain over
Poland; Sapieha dreamed of separating Lithuania from Poland, and
becoming sovereign of the Grand Duchy. In the ensuing Diet the
faction of each had its complaints against the king. The former
blamed him for his ill-success against Kaminiec; the latter
accused him of depriving Lithuania of her rights by summoning
the Diet to meet at Warsaw instead of at Grodno. The Lithuanians
at first refused to attend it, but they yielded on the king’s
proposal that it should be called the Diet of Grodno. Their
opposition to his plans, however, was relentless, and one of the
family of Paz[122] carried his abuse so far as to threaten to
make him feel the weight of his arm. Such was the treatment that
was reserved for the saviour of Europe at the hands of his own
subjects!

♦Unsuccessful campaign of 1685.♦ His health had now become so
feeble that in the next campaign (1685) he was able to gratify
Jablonowski by leaving him in command. His loss was at once
keenly felt. Skilful though he was, the Grand General allowed his
army to be caught in a defile in the forest of Bucovina, and it
required all his ability to rescue it from utter annihilation.
Ashamed at his own pride no less than at his reverse he shunned
the royal presence.[123]

♦Perfidy of Leopold.♦ The zeal of the king for the cause of
the Emperor was cooled about this time by the marriage of the
archduchess, who had been promised to Prince James, to the
Elector of Bavaria. The queen[124] was impelled by her resentment
to join the French party, and Leopold had too much cause to fear
that she would induce John to make a separate peace. ♦Father
Vota.♦ He therefore sent a Jesuit named Vota as his secret
agent to the court of Warsaw. The mission of the holy father
was not openly political; his journey was supposed to have
been undertaken to convert the heretics of the Greek church;
but the Emperor trusted that his literary and social talents
would procure him an ascendancy over the king of Poland. He is
described as a man of wide knowledge and wonderful powers of
conversation; and his religious habits and unobtrusive demeanour
preserved him from suspicion. He devoted himself to the king’s
pleasure, and often slept on the floor of an ante-chamber in
order to be at hand to entertain his weary hours. He easily kept
him faithful to the league against the infidel, and hinted that
the provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia might, if subdued by his
arms, become hereditary in his family. John knew well that they
would merely become provinces of Poland; but he was anxious to
extend her frontiers to the shores of the Black Sea. ♦The king
tries to revive commerce.♦ In spite of the opposition of the
nobles he wished to revive her commerce; and a mercantile treaty
which he contemplated with Holland would have been assisted by
the acquisition of a double sea-front.

♦Treaty with Muscovy.♦ By a treaty with Muscovy in this year
(1686) he gave up Kiow and Smolensko, which had been long in
her possession, for a large indemnity, and obtained promises of
co-operation in his schemes of conquest. Posterity has blamed
him for these concessions; but in his time such was the national
contempt for the Muscovites that no danger was apprehended on
their side.

♦Campaign of 1686.♦ His chances of success were excellent. The
Emperor promised his aid on the side of Hungary; and a great
army of Muscovites was to push forward to the Black Sea. After
arranging his plans with the Imperial generals, John assembled
his forces at the Dniester, but he found all alike, officers and
men, indisposed to a campaign beyond the borders of Poland. But
he could not now draw back. He advanced through the deserts of
Moldavia to the Pruth, passing on his way the fatal spot where
Zolkiewski met with a hero’s death. Descending the river he
entered Yassy, the capital, on the 15th of August, and found that
the hospodar had fled with his troops, but had left provisions
for the invading force, thinking by this means to secure his
immunity from punishment, whatever might be the result of the
campaign. After two days of rest John pushed on towards the
Black Sea. But the heat, the scarcity of water, and the terrible
solitude[125] broke the spirit of his army, and suddenly the
Tartars appeared in his front. News also arrived that the Turks
were within a march of him, and there was no sign either of
Muscovite or Austrian succours. Leopold had again deceived him,
and had profited by John’s demonstration to capture the city of
Buda. There was nothing left but to retreat, and this the king
successfully accomplished, through a most difficult country,
in the face of the enemy. The Tartars poisoned the rivers and
springs, and set fire to the vegetation, while searching clouds
of dust and ashes distressed the retiring Poles. At length they
reached the frontiers of Poland; and the only person who had
reaped any benefit from their sufferings was the Emperor Leopold.

♦Deposition of the Sultan.♦ In the following year a revolution at
Constantinople, provoked by continued disasters, deprived Mahomet
IV. of his throne; and had there been a complete accord between
the members of the Christian league, the Ottoman empire might
have tottered to its fall. No soldier of the Church had laboured
more steadily towards this end than John Sobieski; and if it
was not realised, the fault lay not with him but with his more
powerful allies.

♦Polish anarchy.♦ As his reign drew near its close, the internal
disorders of his kingdom increased. The Emperor never ceased to
intrigue with the Lithuanian grandees against his faithful ally,
and the French party opposed him for this fidelity to the league.
The lesser nobility was devoted to him; but the Senate was now
the hotbed of faction. All the grandees wished for the end of
his reign, the French party because they disliked his policy,
and the Lithuanians because they hated his person. Besides this,
every ambitious senator looked to an interregnum as a means of
realising his dreams of power.

♦Diet of Grodno.♦ In the Diet of Grodno in 1688 the king was
assailed on all sides. The senators[126] in the pay of France
clamoured for peace with the Porte; the Lithuanians, at a hint
from the Emperor, accused him of personal aims in his attempt
upon Moldavia. Before any subsidy could be voted the Diet was
dissolved by the veto; and when the king assembled a convocation
he met with the same stormy opposition. Hastily dismissing the
assembly, he submitted to a period of inaction; but he had the
consolation of finding, on a visit to Wilna in the same year,
that even in the Grand Duchy he was regarded by the people with
admiration.

♦John refuses peace with the Turks.♦ A fresh outburst from the
French party occurred in the same summer, when he refused to make
peace with the Sultan, although he was offered the restoration of
Kaminiec. He had bound himself by oath never to make a separate
peace without the consent of his allies; but to keep strictly to
this article was detrimental to the republic, so sorely in need
of reforms, and he had abundant excuse for breaking it in the
conduct of the Emperor.

♦Tries to establish hereditary succession.♦ His scruples were not
suggested by a desire for further glory, or by a blindness to the
true interests of Poland. His days of warfare were past for ever.
He saw only too clearly the failure of the old constitution, and
he was anxious before his death to witness the establishment of
hereditary monarchy. In striving to have his son declared his
successor he was not actuated by merely selfish motives, for when
a subject he had held the same principles.[127] But the grandees
considered such a proposal as a direct infringement of their
privileges; and they were encouraged by Leopold, who found it his
interest to preserve Poland in a state of fermentation.

♦Affecting scene in the senate.♦ The king intended to ask this
of the republic at the Diet of Grodno; but his intention becoming
known, he was assailed with the utmost virulence in the senate.
The Grand Treasurer termed him despot, tyrant, and destructor
of the public liberty; a palatine spoke of him as the enemy of
his country. At length the king rose and addressed the senate.
He recalled the patriotism and services of his ancestors, and
protested his devotion to the cause of liberty. But he begged his
hearers to pause, and reflect on the consequences of intestine
strife. “Oh, what will be one day the sad surprise of posterity
to see that at the summit of our glory, when the name of Poland
was filling the universe, we have allowed our country to fall
in ruins, to fall, alas! for ever! For myself I have now and
then gained you a few battles; but I confess myself deprived of
all power to save you. It only remains for me to resign, not
to destiny, for I am a Christian, but to the great and mighty
God, the future of my beloved country.... I seem to hear already
resounding over our heads the cry of the prophet: ‘Yet forty
days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed.’ Your most illustrious
Dominations know that I do not believe in auguries. I do not
search out oracles; I give no credence to dreams; it is not
an oracle, it is faith which teaches me that the decrees of
Providence cannot fail to be accomplished.”

During this prophetic speech the voice of the old king trembled
with emotion, and the senate was deeply touched. The primate
knelt at the foot of the throne, and assured him of the loyalty
of Poland; and a cry of assent arose from all present. The
subsidies were voted by acclamation; but it was only a transient
gleam of concord. ♦Continued disturbances.♦ Next year there were
rumours of a conspiracy to dethrone the king; and amid the storms
of the Diet a bishop named Opalinski said to him haughtily, “Be
equitable, or cease to reign!” The insult was soon followed by
an apology; but the tumult continued in the assembly, and sabres
were freely used before the veto terminated the disgraceful
scene.[128] ♦Intended abdication of Sobieski.♦ The king felt
himself unable to cope with these terrible disorders, and he
instructed his chancellor to prepare an act of abdication (1689);
but the unfeigned sorrow of all classes persuaded him to withdraw
it. There was little improvement, however, in the temper of
future Diets; and the veto was employed as freely as before.

♦Discord in his family.♦ John was not more happy in his domestic
than in his public life. His imperious queen was ever his evil
genius. Not content with diminishing his popularity by mixing
too freely in public affairs,[129] she sowed dissension round
his own fireside. The king evidently designed for his successor
his eldest son James; for, besides giving him a high command
in the army, he allowed him to sit by his side in the senate.
But the queen favoured Alexander, her second son, who was
more handsome and popular[130] than his brother, and her open
partiality produced a fierce hatred between the two brothers.
When the Emperor, reminded of the value of John’s friendship by
the victories of Mustapha Köprili, gave the Princess of Neuberg
in marriage to Prince James[131] (1690), the queen took a violent
dislike to her daughter-in-law; and the family breach was widened.

♦His last campaign, in 1691.♦ Next year the king took the
field for the last time, nominally to chastise the Tartars for
an invasion in the winter, but really perhaps to escape the
miseries of his court. He took with him for the first time
his son Alexander, and this so exasperated Prince James that
he threatened to leave the country. The king told him that if
he went he would take with him a father’s curse, and he was
persuaded to repent and ask pardon for his violence. His father
said openly that in the ensuing campaign he should more easily
get the better of the enemy than of his own sons. He gained
a victory at Pererita (August 6), and took a few places in
Moldavia, and then returned to his kingdom never to leave it more.

♦His love of retirement.♦ He spent his last years in retirement,
and seldom appeared in public except in the Diet. His palace of
Willanow was his favourite residence, and from thence in the
summer he would roam from castle to castle, sometimes pitching
his tent, like his nomad forefathers, wherever a picturesque
spot or a noble landscape attracted his fancy. The queen would
have preferred the gaieties of Warsaw; but she followed him into
his solitude, and took care that balls, operas, and the other
amusements of a court should be going on around him.

♦His literary tastes.♦ His chief recreation now, as in his
most difficult campaigns, was the study of the sciences. He
complains to the queen, after the battle of Vienna, that with
all his love of reading he has not had a book in his hand for
more than three weeks.[132] When he read he always had a pencil
in his hand, and his marginal notes displayed uncommon powers
of mind. Dr. South--no mean judge--pronounces him to be “very
opulently stored with all polite and scholastical learning.”
He was fond of writing Polish poetry, and when his daughter
Theresa married the Elector of Bavaria he presented her with a
copy of verses on the event.[133] Like many others of the Slav
race, he was an accomplished linguist. He could converse with
ease in six languages, including Latin,[134] and learnt Spanish
when he was past fifty. His delight was to assemble around him
cultivated men like Father Vota, the French Ambassador Cardinal
Polignac, and his physicians, Connor and Jonas, and to “set them
very artfully by the ears”[135] on some question of philosophy
or natural science.[136] Nor was theology forgotten. He used to
give audiences to the schismatic bishops, and listen patiently to
their arguments for their respective creeds.

♦Patron of learning.♦ Such a prince was of course an ardent
patron of learning. During his reign more books issued from the
Polish press than in the two centuries preceding; and his liberal
views led him to reprimand the Catholic clergy for not admitting
into their schools the philosophy of Descartes. ♦Spite of the
nobles.♦ The great nobles, many of them wholly unlettered, could
not sympathise with these literary tastes, and they showed their
spite towards the king in various ways. On one occasion, when
illness kept him away from the Diet, the Sapiehas demanded that
he should be summoned to attend; and when their motion was lost,
they broke up the assembly with the veto. A Jew named Bethsal,
who collected his revenues, was condemned to death by the Diet
on an unproved charge of sacrilege,[137] and John could hardly
prevail to save his life. ♦Charge of covetousness unproved.♦ Many
imputed his love of retirement to covetousness, and asserted that
he laid up £100,000 a year for the benefit of his sons.[138] The
accusation has been often repeated, although his life abounds in
instances of his draining his private[139] coffers to serve a
pressing public need.

The disorders of the kingdom grew more frightful as John became
less able to restrain them. Street brawls between political
parties had always been of common occurrence, but the rioters now
began to use firearms,[140] and the king had to publish an edict
prohibiting the shedding of blood on pain of death. He often
sent for the chief nobles, and adjured them by the love of their
country to aid him in restoring order.[141] In 1695 the Tartars,
tempted by Polish anarchy and by a report of the king’s death,
invaded Russia, and besieged Leopol; but they disappeared as
quickly as they had come on the approach of Sobieski.

♦His feeble health.♦ Reports of his death were common in Europe,
partly from his feeble health and partly from the interest
which many sovereigns felt in the event.[142] He had long been
afflicted with dropsy; and a wound in his head, which he had
received long before in the Cossack war, now caused serious alarm.

♦Schemes of the queen.♦ The queen was most anxious that he should
make his will, and she deputed her Chancellor, Bishop Zaluski,
to make the proposal. The king received it with disfavour. “I
am surprised,” he said, “that a man of your sense and worth
should thus waste your time. Can you expect anything good of
the times in which we live? Look at the inundation of vice, the
contagion of folly; and should we believe in the execution of
our last wishes? In life we command and are not obeyed. Would
it be otherwise in death?” Soon after the queen entered, and
read in the face of the bishop the failure of her plan. Zaluski
tells us that the next day the king complained bitterly to him
of the bodily sufferings brought on by a dose of mercury which
she had given him. His frame was shaken by convulsive sobs, and
he exclaimed wildly, “Will there be no one to avenge my death?”
This was probably only the raving of a distempered brain; but the
queen has never been exempt from suspicion, and her conduct after
his death only served to confirm it.

♦His illness,♦ On the 17th of June, 1696, his seventy-second
birthday,[143] he lay at Willanow in a state of dreadful
weakness. He asked the news from Warsaw, and was told that
multitudes were flocking to the churches to pray for his
recovery. The intelligence affected him deeply, and he passed
the day in cheerful conversation; but towards evening he was
seized with an attack of apoplexy.[144] The chief officers
hastened to his chamber, and when he awoke to a short interval of
consciousness he showed how eager he was to depart by pronouncing
the words “Stava bene.” ♦And death.♦ Soon afterwards, about
sunset, he breathed his last, and his death, like his birth, was
followed by a sudden and frightful storm.

♦Sorrow of the nation.♦ Only a few of the nobles welcomed
his decease; the mass of the nation remembered his glory, and
sincerely mourned his loss. The Chancellor Zaluski thus expresses
the general sorrow: “With this Atlas has fallen, in my eyes at
least (may I prove a false prophet!), the republic itself. We
seem not so much to have lost him as to have descended with him
into the tomb. At least I have but too much cause to fear that it
is all over with our power. At this news the grief is universal.
In the streets men accost each other with tears, and those who do
not weep are yet terrified at the fate which is in store for us.
Terror apart, what grief was ever more natural? He is, perhaps,
the first king in whose reign not one drop of blood has been shed
in reparation of his own wrongs. He had but one single fault--he
was not immortal.”

♦Quarrels of his family.♦ Amidst such heartfelt sorrow the
behaviour of his family alienated from them all public sympathy.
Prince James at first refused to admit the queen with the royal
corpse to the castle of Warsaw, and when at length he yielded,
he hurried away to Zolkiew to seize his father’s treasures. The
queen hastened after him to put in her claim, but he turned the
cannon of that fortress against her. Burning with indignation,
she exerted all her influence before she left the country[145]
to destroy his chances of the crown. Such was the magic of his
father’s name that at first there was a large party in his
favour; but the family quarrels weakened and dispersed it. The
Austrian party elected Augustus of Saxony; and the French party
thought it necessary to protest by seizing the remains of the
late king. The Elector, resolved not to be out-manœuvred, erected
a cenotaph to the memory of John III.; and it was not till the
next reign, thirty-six years later, that his body received
interment.[146]

♦His sons.♦ The history of his three sons deserves a word of
remark. Charles XII., who as a boy was a devoted admirer of John
Sobieski,[147] invaded Poland in 1705, and would have offered
the crown to Prince James; but the prince, being then in Germany
with his brother Constantine, was seized by the Saxon troops, and
honourably confined at Leipsic; and, as his brother Alexander
nobly refused to profit by his misfortune, the opportunity passed
by. Alexander died at Rome as a capuchin, and his two brothers
resided in Poland on their estates. James Sobieski had two
daughters, of whom the younger, Maria Clementina, was married to
the Chevalier St. George, called the “Old Pretender,” and became
the mother of the unhappy Charles Edward.

♦Character of John Sobieski,♦ The life and exploits of John
Sobieski have in modern times scarcely received their due meed
of attention. Born in a country half civilized, half barbarous,
whose independence has now been completely effaced, his glory
has not proved so enduring as that of less remarkable men who
have figured on a more conspicuous stage. As general, as patriot,
and as Christian hero, he will bear comparison with the greatest
names in any age. ♦As general.♦ No man ever won so many battles
in the most desperate situations; no man ever achieved such deeds
with forces often insignificant and always unruly. His fertility
of resource was amazing; yet it was only equal to the swiftness
of his execution. His chief glory is that, unlike any other great
conqueror, his grandest triumphs were obtained in defensive
warfare, and that all his efforts were directed either to the
salvation of his country or to the honour of his religion. ♦As
patriot.♦ His individual greatness appears most striking in the
ascendancy which he early acquired in his own country. His frank
and simple bearing, his noble mien, and his stirring eloquence,
enabled him, while he was still a subject, to sway the minds and
wills of his fellow-countrymen as if by an irresistible charm.
♦As Christian hero.♦ He laboured for the safety of Poland with
a perfect singleness of aim; and when that was fully secured,
he strove with a like fixity of purpose for the destruction of
the Ottoman power. To us his crusading ardour may seem to have
been out of date, but we must remember that in the seventeenth
century the Turks still inspired a lively alarm, and that if at
the present day we regard them with pity or contempt, the first
step towards this change was accomplished by the sword of John
Sobieski.

♦As king.♦ As a king, he is not entitled to the same high praise.
In a land of peace and order he might have ranked as a benefactor
to his people, but in the home of licence and anarchy his temper
was too gentle and refined to employ the severity which was
needed. A king of Poland, if he was to heal the disorders of
his realm, must first have made himself feared; the natural
temperament of Sobieski made him prefer to be loved. Clemency and
generous forgiveness were parts of his disposition;[148] and the
necessary result upon his policy was that he resigned himself too
easily to bear the vexations which surrounded him. When he did
act, his method was most unwise; for in his principal attempt at
reform--when he aimed at establishing hereditary succession--he
exposed himself to the charge of a grasping self-interest.

♦As head of his family.♦ But we cannot acquit him of deplorable
weakness in the management of his own family. A hasty passion
had thrown him into the power of an unscrupulous and despotic
woman, and his uxorious fondness left her only too much scope for
the activity of her caprice. We have seen more than once that he
could oppose her when his duty seemed clearly marked out for him;
but, for the sake of his own peace, he allowed her to intermeddle
without ceasing in the affairs of Poland. The only result of his
indulgence was that very misery in his domestic circle which he
had sought to avoid. Of the charge against him of avarice we
have already spoken. His chivalrous enthusiasm and cultivated
intelligence would have gone far to disprove it, even if the
treasure which he left behind him had not been found to be only
moderate.

♦His great services,♦ His services to his country were
extraordinary, although he himself confessed that he could not
arrest her fall. He found her at the opening of his career
plunged in civil strife and beset with foreign enemies; he left
her at its close with peace fully assured to her, and with
her glory at its zenith. Within two years of his death the
peace of Carlowitz was signed with the Turks, by which they
renounced all claim to Kaminiec, Podolia, and the Ukraine. The
fruit of his victories was thus fully reaped; but his efforts
to revive commerce and to form an infantry among the serfs,
which would have been the first step to their emancipation,
were never afterwards renewed. ♦Could only retard the fall of
Poland.♦ A patriot life like his may be said to have tried the
institutions of his country, and to have found them wanting.
After seventy-five years of anarchy, that dreaded Partition,
which had been mooted in his day[149] but which he had postponed
for a hundred years, was at length carried into effect. Austria,
whom he had saved by his prowess, Prussia, whom he had hoped
to reunite to his country, Russia, whom his ancestor[150] had
laid at her feet--each took a share of the spoil. No other
patriot arose to save Poland from her rapid decline; and John
Sobieski may be called the last, as he was the greatest, of her
independent kings.


  Oxford: A. Thomas Shrimpton and Son, 23 and 24, Broad Street.




  FOOTNOTES:

  [1] The burghers, however, were under a separate civil
jurisdiction. A tribunal for administering this foreign or
Teutonic law was established in 1347 in six principal towns.

  [2] Poland in the seventeenth century measured 2600 miles in
circumference, while France measured only 2040.

  [3] _Cosmography_, by Peter Heylin, published in 1648, reprinted
from his _Microcosmus_, published in 1621.

  [4] _Relatione di Polonia_ (1598), quoted by Ranke (App. No. 66
to his _History of the Popes_). The same Nuncio says the Poles
confessed to him that they preferred a weak monarch to an able
one.

  [5] The whole of the country called Prussia once belonged to
Poland. Part of it, after being lost in the eleventh century,
eventually came into the hands of the Elector of Brandenburg,
who acknowledged the nominal suzerainty of Poland; the other
part--Polish Prussia--was not lost till the eighteenth century.

  [6] See Dr. South’s letter to Dr. Edward Pococke, Hebrew lecturer
at Oxford, describing his travels in Poland. (p 71.) He mentions
that he had heard them make this remark: and it is curious that
his letter bears date Dec. 16th, 1677--six years before the
relief of Vienna.

  [7] This is denied by Salvandy, _Histoire du Roi Jean Sobieski_,
vol. ii. p. 52, ed. 1876, though he has elsewhere admitted it by
implication (vol. i. p. 402-3).

  [8] The generals had no seat in the Senate by virtue of their
office, but the king always made them palatines or castellans.
DALEYRAC, _Polish Manuscripts or Secret History of the reign of
John Sobieski_, ch. i. p. 9.

  [9] DALEYRAC, ch. i. p. 34.

  [10] The first was simply “veto,” the second “veto, sisto
activitatem.”

  [11] They were always prolonged, however, when public business
was pressing.

  [12] This castellan ranked even above all the palatines, and
headed the Pospolite. The story is that in an important battle
the palatine of Cracow ran away, while the castellan stood his
ground, and their rank was thus reversed. (COYER, _Histoire de
Sobieski_, p. 69, 8vo ed.)

  [13] The Abbé Coyer makes her his daughter; but he is wrong. The
daughter of Zolkiewski married into the family of Danilowicz, and
was the mother of Theophila. (SALVANDY, vol. i. 145-147.)

  [14] The disparity is said to have been much greater, but it is
necessary to bear in mind throughout the life of Sobieski that
the numbers of the combatants are uncertain, owing to the Polish
habit of exaggeration.

  [15] Most historians (and Salvandy in his first edition, 1827)
follow Coyer in giving the date 1629. Salvandy gives no reason
for the change in his later editions; but Sobieski must have
been older than fourteen when he travelled in France; and it
appears that his manuscript favours the earlier date. Coyer is
most inaccurate until the campaign of Podhaic, where his original
authorities begin, and is untrustworthy afterwards.

  [16] Russia, properly so called, was at this time a province of
Poland. The empire of the Czars was termed Muscovy.

  [17] Sobieski himself was not free from this feeling. See the
collection of his letters by M. le Comte Plater (Letter xvii.).

  [18] It was part of Dido’s dying speech:

      “Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor.”

Theophila is said to have shown her sons the hero’s shield while
repeating the Spartan injunction “with it or upon it.”

  [19] Louise de Nevers. The Sobieskis were in France when the
embassy came to fetch her. She also married Casimir, the next
king.

  [20] We find only the bare statement that they visited England
(Salvandy; Palmer, _Memoirs of John Sobieski_). It is possible
the civil war may have deterred them.

  [21] Of these only five were paid to the family of the murdered
man, the other five going to his lord.

  [22] _Commentariorum Chotimensis belli libri tres._ CRACOW, 1646.

  [23] These were not broken during a march, differing in this from
the laager. See DALEYRAC, ch. i. p. 24.

  [24] It was not a feudal tenure, however, for the nobles did
not acknowledge any vassalage to the king. It was merely a
bargain.--DALEYRAC, ch. i. p. 23.

  [25] Dyer (_Modern Europe_, vol. iii. p. 42, ed. 1864) gives no
authority for his extraordinary statement that Wladislas entered
into an elaborate conspiracy with the Cossacks against his own
kingdom. Nothing could be more foreign to his character.

  [26] Coyer makes Mark Sobieski die four years earlier, but his
account of the Cossack war is so confused, that it is difficult
to tell to what events he refers.

  [27] He was descended from the elder branch of the house of
Vasa--that of his grandfather, John III. of Sweden. His father,
Sigismund III. of Poland, had by his Polish sympathies and
Catholic education, alienated the affections of the Swedes.

  [28] The Polish regular army was so called because a fourth of
the royal revenues was employed to maintain them. SALVANDY, i. p.
404.

  [29] Coyer, who is followed by other writers, says that Sobieski
was once a hostage with the khan of the Tartars at his own
request, and made him a steady friend of Poland.

  [30] Frederic William, the founder of the greatness of the house
of Hohenzollern.

  [31] He only carried the standard in the Pospolite; his office
was a high military command. Coyer makes this the reward of his
quelling the mutiny at Zborow, which seems most improbable.

  [32] Daleyrac (ch. i. p. 28) represents the army as being at the
mercy of the Grand Treasurer, who frequently pocketed the money.

  [33] The mansion of a Polish noble was called his “court.”

  [34] But he says she was then only thirty-three, and she was
certainly six years older. Louise de Nevers would not have taken
away to Poland a child of five years as part of her suite.

  [35] Connor (_Letters on Poland_, Letter iv.) actually represents
that he was unwilling to marry her until tempted by a large dowry.

  [36] A letter of Sobieski, describing this plan to his wife, who
was staying in France, was shown to Condé, who had no hope of its
success.

  [37] He was tormented with remorse for marrying his brother’s
widow.

  [38] Connor (Letter iii.) mentions having heard this from aged
Poles.

  [39] He stayed till the diet of election was opened.

  [40] The next king, though related to it, could hardly be said
to belong to it, as he was descended from Korybuth, uncle of
Jagellon.

  [41] Connor, Letter iv.

  [42] Begun by his duel with one of their clan in 1648.

  [43] Married to Radziwill, the Croesus of Lithuania.

  [44] The king bound himself by the _pacta conventa_ not to marry
without the consent of the republic.

  [45] See Daleyrac, chap. i. p. 39.

  [46] A “seraskier” was a commander-in-chief, who received his
commission direct from the Grand Vizier.

  [47] The chiefs of these principalities, now united under the
name of Roumania, had been offended at the insolence of the
seraskier, and their troops, being Christians, disliked serving
under the Turks.

  [48] _History of the Grand Viziers, Mahomet and Ashmet Cuprogli_,
by F. de Chassepol; Englished by John Evelyn, junior, published
1677. See bk. iv.

  [49] Salvandy (i. 419) says Hussein was cut down by Prince
Radziwill; but most accounts agree that he escaped and died of
his wounds at Kaminiec.

  [50] Coyer appears to have first made this statement. It would
be interesting to know his authority. His mainstay, _Familiar
Letters of the Chancellor Zaluski_, does not support him.

  [51] Coyer says that the Polish army, on their way to Kotzim, met
this envoy.

  [52] Letter 329. “La victoire du Grand Maréchal est si grand
qu’on ne doute point qu’il ne soit élu roi.” She does not however
know much about Sobieski, for a little later (Letter 333) she
represents him as of a different religion from the nation.

  [53] Connor, who is evidently repeating the gossip of the king’s
reign, says that he “worked underhand for himself.”

  [54] Salvandy enumerates them (i. 430), but it can hardly be
supposed that they all sent envoys. Among them were the Duke of
York and his son-in-law, the Prince of Orange.

  [55] Coyer says that Michael Paz, in the council of war after
the battle of Kotzim, burst out with this as a condition of his
supporting any candidate.

  [56] Dr. South describes him as follows: “He is a tall, corpulent
prince, large-faced, and full eyes, and goes always in the same
dress with his subjects, with his hair cut round about his ears
like a Monk, and wears a fur cap, extraordinarily rich with
diamonds and jewels, large whiskers, and no neck-cloth.”--_Letter
to Dr. Pococke_, p. 5.

  [57] Czartoryski, Archbishop of Guesna, had died suddenly at a
banquet given by Sobieski.

  [58] Three contemporary authorities give this eloquent speech _in
extenso_; and the language which is common to all of them, and
which is here quoted, enables us to understand its electrical
effect upon the audience.

  [59] This generally occurred on Church lands, for nobles could
make themselves heard against the general in the Diet. Daleyrac
(chap. i. p. 12) says that he had heard of these officers making
6,000 francs by bribes.

  [60] No queen of Poland was entitled to any allowance from the
republic (or pension in case of widowhood) without having been
crowned.

  [61] Daleyrac (ch. i. p. 11) says that the Lithuanians are a
worse scourge to the country than the Tartars. We shall find them
as barbarous to the friendly people of Hungary.

  [62] Coyer makes the astounding mistake of stating that Köprili
died in 1674, and was succeeded in the command in Poland by Kara
Mustapha. (pp. 210, 216, 8vo ed.)

  [63] The account followed by Salvandy (ii. 29) represents the
whole Turkish army, nearly 200,000 strong, as having been
present. Coyer, following Zaluski, gives the account in the text.

  [64] He had been previously received by John in the camp at
Leopol. The German name for that town is Lemberg.

  [65] He died of apoplexy on receiving the intelligence.

  [66] Daleyrac (ch. i. 22). The infantry formed the rear guard,
and when composed of Cossacks, were useful in a dangerous retreat.

  [67] The regular army, called “Komport,” or sometimes
“Quartians,” was supposed to consist of 48,000 men, of which
12,000 were Lithuanians; but it hardly ever reached this amount.
(Daleyrac, ch. i.)

  [68] This was a most valuable addition to his revenue.

  [69] Coyer says that the Muscovites were advancing into Poland to
the king’s relief, but this seems improbable.

  [70] Coyer implies that the condition was refused, Ibrahim
scornfully remarking that the Greeks, who then held the holy
places, were Christians as well as the Latins.

  [71] Letter 537. “La paix de Pologne est faite, mais
romanesquement. Ce héros, à la tête de quinze mille hommes,
entourés de deux cent mille, les a forcés, l’épée à la main, à
signer la traité. Il s’était campé si avantageusement que depuis
La Calprenède on n’avait rien vu de pareil.”

  [72] The expedition was made and failed ignominiously.

  [73] Palmer, _Memoirs of Sobieski_. See also _Biographie
Universelle_, art. “Hevelius.”

  [74] Bourbon l’Archambault, in the department of Allier.

  [75] He alleged as his reason the poverty of the marquis.
Some scandal was caused by the attempt of the French queen to
secure this honour for a certain Brisacier, her attendant, who
represented himself as the natural son of Sobieski during his
visit to France. John could not remember the circumstances, and
the French queen afterwards denied that she wrote to him upon the
subject. The affair was never explained.

  [76] In which he summoned the Diet and enumerated the agenda.

  [77] Oratio principis Radziwill ad Imperatorem.

  [78] The Diet afterwards sent succours to the relief of Vienna,
and the electors of Bavaria and Saxony each commanded a
contingent.

  [79] DALEYRAC, Preface to _Polish Manuscripts_.

  [80] DALEYRAC, ch. ii. p. 44.

  [81] Salvandy (ii. 161) says that in August Leopold offered to
cede him the kingdom of Hungary, and to guarantee the succession
to his family, and that John answered that he wished for no other
reward but the glory of deserving well of God and man. The offer,
if made, could not have been _bona fide_.

  [82] This is the estimate of Sobieski himself in his famous
letter to the queen after the battle. He bases it on the number
of tents, which he places at nearly 100,000. Daleyrac says that a
list was found in the Grand Vizier’s tent, which gave the number
of the Turks alone as 191,800.

  [83] Daleyrac tells an amusing story of the way in which these
Cossacks brought in their prisoners. The king offered a reward to
those who could catch him a “Tongue” whom he could cross-examine.
A Cossack brought a prisoner to the king’s tent, flung him on
the ground like a sack, and went away without a word. Shortly
afterwards he came back, and putting his head into the tent,
said, “John, they have paid me the money; God restore it thee!
Good-night!”

  [84] “The siege of Vienna had given terror to all Europe, and
the utmost reproch to the French, who ’tis believed brought in
the Turks for diversion that the French king might the more
easily swallow Flanders, and pursue his unjust conquests upon the
empire, while we sat unconcerned and under a deadly charm from
somebody.”--EVELYN’s _Diary_, September 23rd, 1683.

  [85] Letter of the Emperor to the King of Poland from Passau,
August 24th.

  [86] A grand subscription was being raised in Rome. Cardinal
Barberini alone gave 20,000 florins.

  [87] DALEYRAC, chap. i. p. 21, and SALVANDY.

  [88] Published by N. A. Salvandy; translated by M. le Comte
Plater. Paris, 1826.

  [89] SALVANDY, ii. pp. 173, 174, quoted in _Foreign Quarterly
Review_, No. xiv. vol. vii.

  [90] He begins every letter to her, “Seule joie de mon âme,
charmante et bien-aimée Mariette!” He calls himself her faithful
and devoted Celadon, and reminds her that it would soon be her
turn to become the wooer. Yet he was fifty-nine years old, and
she was probably forty-eight.

  [91] His army probably did not know of it; but Daleyrac says he
had the news from a spy. It is inconceivable that he should not
have employed a few scouts.

  [92] His order of battle given in Coyer (pp. 316-318), in which
the Duke of Lorraine commanded the centre, was written previous
to the ascent of the Kahlemberg.

  [93] SALVANDY (ii. 190) says that at this moment there was an
eclipse of the moon, which increased the panic; but Daleyrac,
whose account he follows in other respects, does not mention it.

  [94] Sobieski relates these particulars in Letter ix.

  [95] DALEYRAC (ii. 41). This information he had from some captive
Turks.

  [96] He added that he had travelled for four leagues over Turkish
corpses. Unfortunately for the credibility of his tale, his
journey to Rome lay in the direction opposite to the field of
battle.

  [97] _Annales de l’Empire._ He states the Polish loss at 200.

  [98] This is the number given by the French official gazette at
the time.

  [99] Yet, when shortly afterwards an official at court was
presented with a sword of Sobieski, the interest excited was
intense, and engravings were taken of it. SALVANDY (ii. 420)
says that the sword of Sobieski was the cherished possession of
Napoleon at St. Helena. A French prelate was author of the witty
distich:

      Dignior imperio numne Austrius? anne Polonus?
        Odrysias acies hic fugat, ille fugit.

  [100] “Votre Majesté s’est montrée digne non seulement de la
couronne de Pologne, mais de celle de l’univers. L’empire
du monde vous serait dû, si le ciel l’eût reservé à un seul
potentat.”

  [101] Constantine Wiesnowiesçki, cousin of the late king Michael,
the Emperor’s brother-in-law.

  [102] Prince Eugène, who was present, says, “N’étant pas fait
encore aux manières allemandes je m’amusai beaucoup de la fiére
entrevue de l’empereur avec le roi de Pologne.” Sa vie écrite par
lui même. Paris, 1810.

  [103] Letter x.

  [104] Letter xii.

  [105] Letter xv.

  [106] “Si namque ad clangorem memoratae victoriae vel levis
armorum terra marique succedat ostentatio, procul dubio
gemens sub Tyrannide Grecia ac ipsa Constantinopolis perfido
recalcitraret domino, suasque respiceret origines.... Forte
Mahometanum Imperium ad sua devolvatur principia, et ubi satis in
altum surrexerit lapsu graviori ruat.”--Letter of Sobieski from
Vizier’s tent, September 13.

  [107] VOLTAIRE, _Annales de l’Empire_. Curiously enough,
Sobieski, in Letter x. (September 17), after mentioning
Hannibal’s inaction after his victory, says, “To-day we know well
how to profit by ours.”

  [108] Letter x.

  [109] Letter xi.

  [110] Chèvremont (_L’état actuel de Pologne_, 12mo, 1702) talks
of the “vile et mesquin empressement,” which he showed by this
act. He constantly speaks of him as “ce roi avare.” As Chèvremont
was secretary to the Duke of Lorraine, it is to be feared that
the latter was not satisfied with his share of the spoil.

  [111] A kind of dysentery, called the Hungarian fever.

  [112] Letters xx. xxi.

  [113] Letter xvii.

  [114] Letter xvi. Coyer, who had never seen this letter, takes up
his favourite theme of a king pursuing selfish glory; and Coxe
(_House of Austria_, ii. 449) countenances the idea.

  [115] Letter xvii.

  [116] This, as Coyer says, was most discreditable to the
Christians. But Sobieski explains that the Turks had “made no
prisoners” two days before, and that the sight of the bleeding
heads of Poles upon the rampart of the fort maddened his troops.

  [117] Letter xix.

  [118] Letter xxi. The king notices in the same place that the
Turks called him their executioner on account of the number of
men which his victories had cost them.

  [119] Quoted by SALVANDY, ii. 282-284.

  [120] Letter xxix.

  [121] This we learn from a letter of Sobieski to the Pope, dated
from Javarow, August 15th, 1684. Having 60,000 men (two-thirds
of them Cossacks), he started with large hopes. “Me ad Turcarum
regiam [illos] ducturum.... Liberator Orientis rediturus vel pro
Christi fide moriturus.” Sooner than give up the crusade, he
announced that he would resign the crown “tamquam ut humillimus
miles vitam in Hungaricis agminibus funderem.”

  [122] Said to have been the same Paz with whom he fought a duel
in his youth.

  [123] A letter of the king to Jablonowski after this defeat, in
which he gently complains of his coldness, shows his character in
a most amiable light. “Whether I have merited your indifference
or not, come promptly to dissipate the cloud which has covered
our intimate friendship, and believe that your presence will be
more efficacious towards my speedy recovery than all the art of
my physicians.”

  [124] Chèvremont (p. 116) says that both she and the king
received bribes from France, but as secretary to the Duke of
Lorraine he is an Austrian authority. He admits that even on the
morrow of the battle of Vienna the Emperor had no intention of
fulfilling this promise of the hand of the archduchess.

  [125] The dangers of this expedition did not deter John from
antiquarian researches. Passing an ancient mound he ascended it,
and after examination pronounced it to be the work of Decebalus,
king of Dacia.

  [126] All the orders of the realm sat together while the Diet
lasted.

  [127] He seems to have been in favour of John Casimir’s attempt
to name a successor.

  [128] Candles were not allowed in the Diet, and the session
having lasted a long time, a Lithuanian took advantage of the
dusk to smack a bishop in the face, and a tumult ensued. About
the same time Sapieha, the Lithuanian general, had a grave
quarrel with the Bishop of Wilna. One party used excommunication,
and the other violence, and no efforts of the king could
reconcile them.

  [129] She was always intriguing in the Diet, and did her utmost
to dissolve that of Grodno. She was accused of selling offices
of state, and binding the recipient to support one of her sons
at the next election (Connor). She certainly had a control over
the king’s appointments, and he so loved domestic peace that he
generally followed her advice.

  [130] Prince James (born in 1667) was called the son of the Grand
Marshal, and the other two the sons of the king.

  [131] This marriage made him brother-in-law of the sovereigns of
Spain, Portugal, and Austria.

  [132] Letter xi. from Presburg, September 19th.

  [133] CONNOR, _Letters on Poland_.

  [134] The others, besides the Slavonian, were French, Italian,
German, and Turkish.

  [135] SOUTH’s _Letter to Dr. Edward Pococke_, p. 5.

  [136] Connor describes a discussion as to what part of the body
the soul inhabits.

  [137] It is to be feared, however, that Bethsal had sometimes
abused his position.

  [138] CONNOR, Letter iv.

  [139] “The king opened his coffers to the designs of the League
so far that his own family could scarcely believe it.”--DALEYRAC,
Preface.

  [140] DALEYRAC, chap. i. p. 33.

  [141] Connor says that the grandees paid him outwardly the
highest respect, never eating with him at his table, and that
those who most abused him in Parliament showed him great
deference elsewhere.

  [142] BURNET (_History of his Own Time_, iii. 348) asserts that
“he died at last under a general contempt.” This is curious side
by side with the fact that shortly before his death the new Pope,
Innocent XII., proposed to him to mediate between France and
Austria.

  [143] Salvandy (ii. 395) says that it was also the day of his
accession. It certainly was not the day of his election, or of
his signing the “pacta conventa,” or of his coronation.

  [144] Connor says that he died of a dropsy turned into a scirrhus
or hard tumour. The blood being prevented circulating, the
humours were driven to the head, and apoplexy ensued.

  [145] It is said that she attempted to procure the election of
Jablonowski with the intention of marrying him. She soon left
Poland and resided in France, where she died in 1717, at the age
of eighty-two.

  [146] SALVANDY, ii. 409. The fact is almost incredible.

  [147] It is said that he refused to learn Latin until he heard
that the Polish hero was a proficient in that language. When he
was told of his death he exclaimed, “So great a king ought never
to have died.”

  [148] Zaluski relates several instances of his readiness to
own himself in the wrong, and of his unwillingness to avenge a
personal insult.

  [149] By Charles X. of Sweden. It is said that documents are in
existence which prove that Louis XIV. also entertained the idea.

  [150] Zolkiewski.




“THE OXFORD TRANSLATIONS OF THE CLASSICS.”


  EURIPIDES: HECUBA, 1/6.           }  {
  EURIPIDES: MEDEA, 1/6.            }  { With the most difficult
  EURIPIDES: ALCESTIS, 1/6.         }  { words parsed and explained,
  SOPHOCLES: ŒDIPUS TYRANNUS, 2/-.  }  { by a First
  SOPHOCLES: AJAX, 2/-.             }  { Class-man, Balliol College,
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